I have been working a lot on trying to get myself to not be distracted when I write.

It’s a beast that I am sure many creatives have wrestled in their lives. I used to be very good at diving into my writing headspace with ease and knocking out what needs to get done.

Then the Pandemic started and then The Buzzing started and now I am lucky if I can get two minutes of continuous work done before I immediately want to hop away from my desk and see if some food magically appeared in the fridge.

I have long trained my brain to not do much internet surfing on my personal computer so I don’t really have a problem with stopping my flow to get on Twitter or read an article. And if I do slip up, I tend to leave after a minute or so. I’ve just made it so uncomfortable for myself to look at social media on my computer that it has helped with my writing in that sense. So something else took the place when I want to procrastinate: my phone.

I now have the ugly habit of picking up my phone while on my computer to procrastinate. A file will be open, the cursor will be blinking and I will be double-tapping a friend’s photo of their kid or dog or delicious dinner. It’s a terrible habit and my iPhone loves to shame me weekly about my screen time usage. I broke 7 hours recently and I could feel the judgement in the notification.

I have set up all the focus blocking I could but the one thing that has kept me off the phone these past few weeks is Airplane mode. The humble tap to Airplane mode has stopped me from picking up my phone.

No notifications, no way for someone to text and interrupt me. I am just in the clear blue skies, writing away. It’s delightful and I hope it keeps forever.

The second wonder that I have rediscovered is the writing circle. Nothing like 2+ writers sitting in a zoom and promising to write for a limited amount in hopes of not disappointing someone is a powerful accelerate for working.

It’s the external validation for me.

So those are the two things I am toying with right now. Hopefully they stick.