Multitasking
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but I think it is more important during NaNoWriMo season.
The Internet Age has made multitasking easier than ever. Actually, it’s almost a necessity. And for people like stay-at-home parents, it’s hard to live without doing it.
But sometimes you need to stop. Distractions will eat away at your concentration, your writing time, and you won’t even notice it. How many of you leave IM on while writing? Or email? You’re in the middle of a scene and someone pings you, and you take *just one second* to answer them, and your cooncentration is lost.
Right now, I’m trying to get up at 630am and turn on the computer - but not the wifi - and write my daily wordcount. Then the only thing that interrupts me is my daughter, who has heard me moving around getting tea and has decided that I couldn’t POSSIBLY be getting up early for any reason other than to make her breakfast… but I digress. The point is, multitasking usually means that you’re splitting your attention, and do you want to do that while writing?
Just take a moment and do a test for me. The next thing you do, whether it’s answer the phone or write an email or work on your next chapter, try to give it 100% of your attention. At first it will be difficult to focus on just one thing, but eventually you’ll be able to do it. See what it does for your writing.
About the Author: I am a writer and podcast producer, writing for magazines and RPGs. I am a wanna-be fiction writer with several short fiction, comic scripts, and one novel sale. Playing For Keeps will be out August, '08.
Phil Rossi | Nov 6, 2006 | Reply
Right on. Full agreement. Focusing is one of those skills that improves with time and practice. I hate to say that I’m better at focusing now, because one of the cornerstones of Filling the Page is coping with a short attention span. But I am.
With that said, it is amazing what can be accomplished with solid focus.
Anonymous | Nov 6, 2006 | Reply
Which is the reason I usually prefer to write outside, turning off my cell phone and bringing only my little computer. This minimizes all distractions, especially because our neighborhood is relatively quiet. If the temperature is below 50 and I must write inside, I sign out of my IM services, disconnect the phone, and turn on some jazz. This seems to work well too.
Anonymous | Nov 8, 2006 | Reply
You are so right - I’m horrible about that. I find that if I don’t have a browser to flip to I get really twitchy and nervous. Oh no!! But if I’m honestly off line I get a ton more done.
Of course, there isn’t much to be done about the little ones…
Nancy Fulda | Nov 13, 2006 | Reply
>next thing you do, whether it’s answer the phone or write an email or work on your next chapter, try to give it 100% of your attention.
Mur, thank you. That is exactly what I needed to hear today.
OzWriter | Nov 28, 2006 | Reply
G’day Mur,
What I have done to remove distractions is setup another profile on my computer. When I am ready to “write” I log off my normal profile and on to the special one called, funnily enough, Writer.
There are no icons on the desktop except for a shortcut to Word that opens my novel, Internet Explorer that homepages to Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, and iTunes so I have something to listen to and not be distracted by the TV in the other room. The rest of the screen is empty except for the pretty Windows rolling hills background. Ahh the serenity…
Nothing else is setup in this profile, no email programs (to just check if someone has mailed me), no IMs (just in case someone wants to talk to me), nothing that might be an excuse to put off writing for a little while longer (haven’t played that game for a while). Sure having the internet accessible can be an issue, but it is too valuable a research tool for me, so I just try to be diligent.
BTW I enjoy your blog a lot, keep it up.