The Author Wheel Podcast
The Author Wheel Podcast
NaNoWriMo Hacks to Stay Focused
Ever feel like the world conspires to distract you every time you sit down to write?
In this week's "betweeniesode," award-winning fantasy author Megan Haskell and USA Today bestselling mystery thriller author Greta Boris share their best hacks to shut down distractions and focus on your writing.
Tip #1: Use technology to your advantage. Try out apps like Freedom which shut down distracting websites and social media across your devices, setting "Do Not Disturb" on your phone, or Brain.FM for white noise.
Tip #2: Change location. If your household chores are calling your name or family keeps unintentionally interrupting you, try going to a coffee shop or library to get those precious words on the page.
Want even more productivity tips? Check out our online course, Finish Your Novel Faster: https://www.authorwheel.com/finish-your-novel-faster
Get ready to accelerate your writing speed, stay motivated, and keep your story rolling!
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Megan Haskell:
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Hi everyone and welcome to the author wheel between ESODE number six. I'm award winning fantasy author Megan Haskell.
Speaker 2:And I'm Greta Boris, USA Today Bestselling Mystery Thriller author, and together we are the author wheel.
Speaker 1:So today's quick tip episode is all about avoiding distractions.
Speaker 2:Dun, dun, dun yeah.
Speaker 1:We are nearing the end of the month, and so you know I can imagine because you know, I've done this before myself too by now you're one of two things You're either way behind schedules, but you can't afford distractions, or you're on target, but now your motivation might be lagging a little bit, and so it's too easy to get caught up in distractions, which will then cause you to fall behind. Or maybe you're just a super speedy writer not me and you're way ahead of the game, and so you're done already and you don't care anymore. In which case, why are you listening to this? I don't know.
Speaker 2:You're just distract yourself all over the place.
Speaker 1:We don't even care. We don't even care, right, but for the rest of us, exactly.
Speaker 1:So, distractions can be a huge hurdle to overcome during, you know, a challenge like this, especially at any time when we're writing, distractions can be a problem, but especially during nano win, that word count is just so important you just can't afford them if you're really trying to quote, unquote win, nano-rimo. So how do we avoid distractions? My favorite thing is to use an app called Freedom and basically what it does is it turns off any distracting websites. So it won't let me get on Facebook, it won't let me get on like email or any social media.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like parental controls for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it is self-imposed parental controls and it works across all my devices and syncs up all my devices. So I won't I can't use my phone, I can't use my iPad and I can't use the Internet on my computer. So, yeah, it's kind of brutal but it works. That would do it. All you can do is write and that's really what you want. So that's the app I like and I use. If you have more self-control than I do, sometimes you could just turn on, do Not Disturb on your phone so that you're not getting phone calls or text messages or, you know, facebook app messages or notifications or whatever, whatever Right. So just turn on, do Not Disturb, and that might be enough for you to stay focused and avoid those distractions. But those are my two favorites, greta. Do you have any others that you like and use?
Speaker 2:I use Do Not Disturb. Do Not Disturb, you know, sometimes I'll just turn the volume off on my phone too, you know. But I do like do not disturb, because I write on my iPad a lot and you know, oh, so-and-so liked your post on Facebook will pop up in the middle of my scene writing, or whatever. So, and then you go?
Speaker 1:yeah, I gotta go see what they said.
Speaker 2:Exactly because that's so important. I know so. And the other thing I like about do not disturb is that your favorites list on your phone. So, like my husband, my children, they can get through to me. So if there was a family emergency they can get through to me. So, yeah, I don't feel quite so disconnected, but made my hot tip on the do not disturb is, when you're done, turn it off.
Speaker 2:Because, I will leave it on and I'll wonder why. You know I Didn't get any. No, but you texted me all day and it's like oh, it's because I had do not disturb on, yeah, yeah, but it very, it's really, really helpful. It's really. That's what I've been using in my crash. I've been doing my own private nano the past couple of days just because I was behind on a manuscript, and that's what I've been using and that just is enough for me.
Speaker 1:So and one of the one other app. I mentioned this in our betweeny soad on Getting into the flow. But the other app that I also use to help avoid audible distractions and to keep my mental state focused is the brainfm app, which plays white noise music and and it's specifically designed to help you get into that flow state. Supposedly it like matches up your brain waves or something scientific that I don't understand, and so I do like that and I think for people we actually had another author friend Told us that she has ADHD and for her having some other sensory input Allows her to focus, whereas if she didn't have you know the noise on that, you know the some music plane or some other some other sensory input that she finds it very difficult to stay focused. So that can actually really help as well.
Speaker 1:It's not quite the same as blocking distractions, but but it does help focus your brain and so it keeps, especially the music because and brain FM because I put headphones on and I have noise canceling headphones and so all I'm hearing is that white noise music. It just shuts down all of those. You know the dog barks or you know the car drives down, big, huge truck drives down the street and I'm going. Who's moving, or whatever?
Speaker 1:like those kinds of little distractions that can take you out of the scene are blocked, quote unquote. You know, so to speak, by that white noise. So that's another good tip for you know, blocking out distractions, I think.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. Now, tip number two is if you have a home full of distractions, or if you are distracted by all the things that you need to get done that aren't writing. So sometimes our distractions are internal pressures. Right, I'm sitting in my house, I'm writing in my family room, I glance up at my kitchen and there's a sink full of dirty dishes. There's like this little hook that comes from the dirty dishes and starts dragging me towards them because, God forbid, what if some neighbors stopped by and saw that I didn't do my dishes right? I mean, those kinds of things can be your own internal distractions. And or you've got dogs, you've got people knocking at the door, you've got family members running around or what have you. So to solve that kind of distraction, take your writing on the road, go to a library, go to a coffee shop. Some people write in their cars. I think they even have desks that you can hook to your steering wheel laptop desks to hook to your steering wheel.
Speaker 2:That's cool, I know I mean because, especially if you are in the mom phase where you're constantly show furring Megan can't relate to this where you're show furring your children. Yeah, like you're in your show fur phase of life, you know that can be an awesome tool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm actually going to have to look into that, because I am facing down a new schedule here pretty soon where I'm going to just be making laps around this day and waiting for children to be done on Thursday from different activities. So that would be very helpful.
Speaker 2:We were one of the women we interviewed this year who's incredibly prolific author, tanya Capis. She writes in her camper, so she has a camper parked on her property that I'm sure they take on camping trips as well, but she uses it for an office, a home office, and it's just separated far enough from the house where somebody would have to open the door, walk outside. You know what I mean, and even that can help. There is also what you were talking about Brain FM.
Speaker 2:There are some studies that show that the background noise of a coffee shop can have the same effect on your brain. So, provided you don't sit yourself next to someone who speaks with a really loud voice and you find yourself typing their conversation which has happened to me and you want to go like whack them over the head with your laptop, you know just the noise of a coffee shop, even can, and the feeling of being around people that are busy and doing something, but yet it has nothing to do with you, so that can be a good distraction too. So sometimes I really like to go to the library and the coffee shop. The other good thing about that kind of thing is that you can also tell yourself I can't go home until I write X number of words, you know. And the later it gets, and the hungrier you get, you know, the more you're like oh my gosh, I gotta hurry up and write because I really want to leave this coffee shop.
Speaker 1:So so long as you not continuously buying yourself scones or something, because that would be counterproductive.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, absolutely. Now I usually stick to coffee shops with refills on the coffee.
Speaker 1:that's my yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so those are our two tips today for avoiding distractions. And you are on the home stretch, everybody, so just keep going. We're cheering you on from the sidelines, so, as we say, keep your story rolling.
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