How do you handle distractions?Do you power through them without glancing away from your screen? Do your fingers fly across the keyboard while the world races around you?
Or...
Do you stop writing to answer the phone? Do you read new emails the moment they arrive? Do you glance at each tweet as it pops up on your screen, and click on the awesome linkage?
Me, I'm in the second category. I'm a bit like Doug from the movie UP. I'm easily tempted to lose focus and move on to whatever dangles in front of me.
Ooh! A new email!
Where was I? Oh yes, distractions.
Thanks to Christine Fonseca, I learned about Dr. Wicked and his amazing Write or Die program. Am I the last writer in the world to hear about this?
I used it yesterday and fell in love. Before signing on, I planned where I was going with my story (for me, a crucial step). I shut down my email and Twitter pages. I entered my word count goal, set the timer, and clicked write. What a rush! Watching the screen turn from pink to red when I lingered too long was a great motivator. It's the perfect cure for my short attention span.
Would this work well for revisions? I don't think so. But for a first draft, it was perfect.
Do you struggle with distractions? And if you've used Write or Die, what's your opinion?
photo credit: google.com/images