You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

DataPacRat comments on Seeking advice: Writing skills and workspaces - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: DataPacRat 13 June 2015 07:42PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (15)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Elo 14 June 2015 12:52:34AM *  3 points [-]

I can't necessarily provide specific advice, but what you need to analyse is:

1. Where are the barriers to starting, how can you lower these.

Many people don't even get to the doing part, they put off starting a task. By making it easier to start it makes it easier to write for a few hours.

I.e. I have (personally) tried a bluetooth sliding keyboard, found pressing the keys to be awful, purchased a stand-alone bluetooth keyboard that works with my phone because it was much nicer to use. (don't let "waiting for the new keyboard to arrive" be an excuse)

You may find that you get hungry/thirsty after a while of writing; and thats the biggest thing stopping you, consider having available food/drink.

2. what are the major distractions that you can get rid of, or would like to work around.

You have identified sound and internet already. but you might need a comfortable chair too, or a light enough workspace so that you dont fall asleep, Or to pay the bills you keep putting off because they won't leave your head enough to let you think of the story.

Consider also making a list of things to do after writing, then leaving it in your way away from the computer so that when you are done with writing you can get straight onto that list, but while you are writing it won't matter to you because its written down somewhere.

Some people are distracted by sound, some people are distracted by mess, some are distracted by having books around in the library. It really depends what is distracting you and whether the "distance and time to the library" is worth it (it might be). Or also "the house is too mess and so I am going out" might be more easy than staying home.

3. is it in your diary/calendar?

Regularly marking time out to do X will help it actually happen. trying to fit it around other things, especially a long standing project without the same new project motivation is going to be difficult to convince yourself to start X today

I assume you already have a plan. (the plot thing) So "knowing where you are going" is covered.

You may not need to fully disable the internet, an option that seems to work for some will range from any kind of serviceblocker (i.e. facebook limiter program) to the cat5 plug across the room. by raising the barrier to starting the internet and getting down a distracted path you lower the chance you will do it unless you really really need to.

Also having good check-habits will help. i.e. whenever you leave the computer you make sure the internet is off; so when you come back you can start with writing specifically, rather than starting with facebook.

Something like a word-count written in big somewhere (whiteboard, on the door, on the ceiling above your bed) might help you feel like the progress is serious and relevant. (word count may not be your goal, rather plot milestones, some kind of indicator to yourself)

Consider time tracking - i.e. rescuetime. It has a pretty useful free version for keeping track of if you are genuinely using the word processor and/or knowing what you are mostly using as a distraction/largest chunks of time abuse.

How many hours do you think you have left of the project? Then divide this up by the number of weeks left.

If these have helped I probably have a few more.

Comment author: DataPacRat 14 June 2015 02:12:28AM 2 points [-]

don't let "waiting for the new keyboard to arrive" be an excuse

I'm planning on not, either in the specific case or in general. (Which is why I went for my precommitment yesterday.)

(In case you're curious, my external keyboard is the one shown at http://www.dx.com/p/convenient-69-key-wireless-bluetooth-folding-keyboard-for-tablet-pc-smartphone-black-303707 ; fits in a pocket, allows full-speed touch-typing.)

available food/drink

I've already got my backpack ready for my first writing-focused trip to the library, come Tuesday: my preferred carbonated water and granola bars (which I should be able to have despite the usual no-food-or-drink policies of that library, as long as I'm reasonably discreet about it). If Soylent 1.4+ ever starts shipping to Canada, I might try that instead.

a comfortable chair

... Oddly enough, about a month ago I started thinking about replacing my current chair with a new one, maybe a recliner. This moves the idea up another notch or three on the priority list.

what is distracting you

At the moment, the main place I have at home where I can set up to write is my living room, in my Sheldon-like spot, where my roommate is usually working on their own projects, and/or listening to the radio and/or watching TV and/or trying to socialize with me and otherwise keep me from entering a flow state. It's infeasible for me to carve out a new workspace within the next few months, so as long as I can go somewhere where I don't have to worry about being talked at and around and with flickering images in my field of view, I should be able to manage. If I had better batteries for my laptop, a park bench would do; I might try that with my phone, just because I've now thought of it. Having excess books around is more of a help than a hindrance (which it should be, as even without the internet, I have several gigabytes of ebooks on my laptop at any given time).

whether the "distance and time to the library" is worth it

I go for miles-long walks daily. Won't be a problem aiming some portion of those walks to and from the library.

Regularly marking time out to do X will help it actually happen.

This has potential. Once I've found out if the library is the best spot, or I pick a different location, I can make it a regular thing.

raising the barrier to starting the internet

Maybe I can fiddle with the laptop's settings, so it doesn't automatically connect to the library's wifi.

so when you come back you can start with writing specifically

An addition - I can have my writing software automatically start when the laptop boots.

Comment author: DataPacRat 15 June 2015 08:15:45AM 2 points [-]

If Soylent 1.4+ ever starts shipping to Canada

Hunh. That was fast.

http://blog.soylent.com/post/121573571522/now-shipping-to-canada