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writethisfanficIt's my last day doing the check-ins for this month -- tomorrow I hand over to lola_mento. Thanks very much to everyone who's volunteered to do check-ins, hooray! If something comes up & you can't take your shift, please let me know ASAP & I'll find someone else (or step into the breach). Also feel free to experiment w/the format of the check-in! (I think, because I'm a paid member & an admin for the comm, I should be able to allow any members, whether they are paid members or not, to post polls -- perhaps one of the check-in folks could let me know? If it doesn't work I'll check w/Support.)
Anyway! On to today's poll.
For a discussion topic, I'd like to hear about how folks get, & stay, in the zone when writing. We all have periods when we're more distracted than others, but I feel like sometimes I can't sit down to write without switching over to another window to look at DW or check Twitter or see if an e-mail's come in. Every other minute. I should probably use an internet blocker, sigh. Has anyone been able to improve their concentration or minimize distractions? What did you do? Somehow I still manage to write things even while flicking between tabs, but I wish I could focus more. Do you struggle with this?
lola_mento. Thanks very much to everyone who's volunteered to do check-ins, hooray! If something comes up & you can't take your shift, please let me know ASAP & I'll find someone else (or step into the breach). Also feel free to experiment w/the format of the check-in! (I think, because I'm a paid member & an admin for the comm, I should be able to allow any members, whether they are paid members or not, to post polls -- perhaps one of the check-in folks could let me know? If it doesn't work I'll check w/Support.)Anyway! On to today's poll.
Poll #6909 Day 7 check-in!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12
The fic! How is it going today?
Have you been able to do any of the fic-related stuff you set out to do this weekend yet?
And what fic-ly things did you end up doing, then?
View Answers
Write
7 (63.6%)
Edit
2 (18.2%)
Send to beta
0 (0.0%)
Research
2 (18.2%)
Procrastinate
4 (36.4%)
Something else I will describe in comments
3 (27.3%)
Your fic, in three words or less!
For a discussion topic, I'd like to hear about how folks get, & stay, in the zone when writing. We all have periods when we're more distracted than others, but I feel like sometimes I can't sit down to write without switching over to another window to look at DW or check Twitter or see if an e-mail's come in. Every other minute. I should probably use an internet blocker, sigh. Has anyone been able to improve their concentration or minimize distractions? What did you do? Somehow I still manage to write things even while flicking between tabs, but I wish I could focus more. Do you struggle with this?
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no subject
Date: Sunday, May 8th, 2011 05:35 (UTC)Oh man, writing vs. distractions. Well, productivity vs. distractions. That is my ultimate battle of ultimate destiny. It rarely goes well for productivity.
What works best for me is to be in an environment that is removed from distractions. I cannot be near a computer. I also have difficulty with auditory stimulation: my attention breaks when there's words I can understand in the background. People talking, television, and music I can sometimes block out with varying degrees of success, but it really depends on the subjects. Bottom line, I can only really focus on one set of words at a time, and with my perfectionistic tendencies in writing, there's a lot of room between phrases for other words to break in.
It also really helps me to be out of the house/apartment, though just someplace quiet with a clear table/desk-height writing-surface will usually do. If there's a television or a computer near by I usually can't resist distraction, which is why "out" is helpful: there aren't a lot of places where I live with the appropriate writing surfaces and no electronics. A productivity office might not be a bad idea for me someday.
Anyway, for those reasons (among others), it is during my lunch hour at my non-flower-store job that I've been getting most of my work done lately. It has all the aforementioned requirements and zero to none of the distracting things ¦Db Though I'm pretty sure I could pull something off at the near-by mall (half taken-over by the local university, so yes, there's "study" space), especially if I get my time tables under control.
no subject
Date: Sunday, May 8th, 2011 12:15 (UTC)That can be good for the writing too, so don't sweat it too much.
no subject
Date: Sunday, May 8th, 2011 15:20 (UTC)I have difficulty w/words in the background if I can understand them too. I do like to write w/music on, & sometimes it doesn't matter if I can understand the words (sometimes I can tune it out, sometimes it ends up giving me serendipitous inspiration if the right song happens to pop up). But sometimes I have to switch to either instrumental music or music in a language I don't understand v. well.
That's great that you have pretty steady writing time at your non-flower-store job--it probably helps you focus, too, since you know that your lunch break is a v. finite period of time.