How Do I Write? -- Part I: Eliminating Distractions

 A problem that many aspiring writers deal with is eliminating distractions. This does not only amount to noise, but also other problems like trying to get your mind straight to focus on the task at hand. It is not an easy task; I go through it myself. But I also know that there are tips and techniques that can help a struggling writer get through this.

While distractions are not necessarily the same as writer's block, they are one of the key problems a writer has to deal with in the creative process, along with writer's block itself and a lack of motivation. 

The first thing to know is that distractions are intermittent problems. They are solvable and easy to overcome with persistence, though the longer-term issue of establishing a regimen is a longer-term commitment. 

Distractions are always easy to address. The first thing you need to do is find the sources of distraction. Obviously, the noise problem is omnipresent, but that can  be manageable when you adjust to background noise during your work. As a college student, it is crucial to be able to not pay attention to what is going on on the living room television, no matter how good or bad it is. That is much more of a sound problem, and can be easily ignored. A much bigger distraction, in my opinion, is having a video game console on. Even if you're just installing or updating a new video game, it is bound to cause a lot of problems because your eyes will always be more tempted to stare at a console, especially if it is in the same room where you're writing in.

Almost everyone knows that the internet is just as bad a distraction as TVs and video games are, but it has more to do with a lack of control. We waste too much time browsing through frivolous pages and information and not on the kind that we would actually benefit from. The Fear of Missing Out disorder is very prevalent among the youth, especially those who struggle to carry through with a project, so I advise that people in that age range to be wise about it.

One of the most important tools to use is Microsoft Word's distraction elimination mode. This produces a full screen for the processor's work area without the desktop taskbar being visible. But if you really need to find words elsewhere, I'd advise keeping a dictionary, a thesaurus, or any one of those miscellaneous word books (Big Book of Words You Should Know is a personal favorite of mine). You can find words that you need to make your prose flow better from books like that. These also give you the sense of having to work harder in scouring text for the things you need, something that basic internet surfing does not easily afford. Personally, I don't go into full screen mode whenever I write on my computer. I try my best to focus on the task on hand, to meet the need of getting something finished. I do suffer from procrastination as a result, but on a good day, I can write very quick.

 A significant problem writers like me have is tiredness. This comes from a lack of exercise, particularly the harder kind that really gets your blood pumping. I alternate between lifting dumbbell weights and doing physically productive tasks like sawing wood or watering the garden in summer. This stimulates my brain and powers the engine that gets me through all kinds of projects. It can be harder at times to stimulate my mind into writing, but this trick always works for me. There are other solutions to this problem, such as getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and not wasting brain power on playing video games, but those are all things that are widely taught. I'm just talking about what helps get me in the mood for writing.

The next part of this series will be on how I react to Writer's Block, a common issue for any writer.