Distractatron 9000

There's nothing quite like distractions for a writer, particularly us unpublished (possibly unwashed) writers who haven't yet developed a heavy writing discipline born of a need to publish or fail to eat.

Distractions come in many forms and I'm going to jam on here about a few. Yes a lot of this is very basic and straight forward, even a no brainer. However, often things need to be said, or read, to remind us of certain very basic truths or principles, because if there is one thing people are good at, it's fooling ourselves.

External:

That damn squawking crow outside my window right now, the fact that this PC is connected to the internet, the phone etc. While many external distractions can be out of your control, most aren't. Nothing stops you closing the windows, putting in earplugs, taking the phone off the hook, refusing to answer the door etc. Dealing with internet access is a toughy, but if you have a real problem with your email addiction etc, you either have to make an ironclad deal with yourself that you can only use it between 12 and 12:30 during your writing day or something similar, only for research etc. Or if you can't stick to that, unplug the damn modem. Go yank it out of the wall.

Do it now, see how easy it is?

Now plug it back in and read on.

External distractions are usually a simple matter of cutting yourself off from the source, making them nice and easy to deal with if you have the will to do so.


Internal:
Internal distractions are the most insidious, unsurprisingly. Maybe you're stressed about work, can't get a song out of your head or are sitting there questioning your ability to even write at all. Thing's such as self talk, obsession etc. Creating your own distractions where none actually exist.
Writers can be particularly guilty of this when it comes to agonising over choices they made, constant re-reading, questioning themselves etc.
Now don't mistake, questioning yourself and your process is the only way you will improve anything and should be done.
However, there is a time to question and there is a time to STFU and just write chapter 13 already.
There is only one way to counter constant excuse making or procrastination, that is to know you do it, pay attention to yourself, realise when you are and then just fking well stop.

Self discipline is the only option.

Now if you aren't naturally extremely bloody-minded and stubborn like yours truly, you probably can't "just shut up and do it". No-one can all the time.
To deal with something like this you need to be able to put to rest the shite in your mind that is rattling around and bouncing off other more creative thoughts, shattering them into useless chunks that scatter to the 4 corners of your brain never to be found again.

Usually, this comes down to planning and self management, notably time management.

If you have a finite amount of time each day, or week, or whatever, in which to write, that time is precious and you need to make the most of it. If you simply leap into that time face first your very likely to waste great swathes of it. You need to plan how you are going to use it.
Large and complex time management plans are in my not so humble opinion, a damn waste of time. You need something simple.

All these random elements bouncing around in your head need to be dealt with, simplest is just jot the damn things down, simply as possible in something for the purpose. A note book or text file, whatever, just get them out of your brain, file them and get back to the task. You need to go into each of your precious writing times with an attitude of "today I do this" and do it. Anything that would distract you goes in the notes and then gets shoved out of the way.

Stay on target. At the end of the session, spend maybe 15 minutes, perhaps more or less depending on how long your sessions are, reviewing that mess of side notes you just made and planning out exactly what you will do in the next one. Then the next time you come to write, pick up your time management book, file, whatever; read the notes you left yourself on what you are going to do, spend 5 minutes or so deciding exactly how, and then spend the rest of your time doing just that.

And if something distracts you, note it down in your memory slush pile for review at the end of the session and possibly being added to next session.

Overall, I feel this is a pretty straight forward and effective way of dealing with it. When I was writing RPGs, which are massive sprawling multi hundred thousand word text and mathematic monstrosities, this method was the only way to stave off the galloping crazies.

I hope this helps someone out, rambling and ranting as it is.