Words on a page

Daily life is full of distractions. And those distractions can get in the way of you writing a killer (or just good) blog post. Why not eliminate some of those distractions and do your blogging offline?

Step Away From the Keyboard

Blogging offline. That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Blogging is supposed to be done while connected to the Internet, isn’t it?

That’s the theory. The reality is a lot different. Think of all the distractions in your daily life: phones ringing, people asking for whatever, mail or courier deliveries, the lure of TV. Add email, sites like Twitter and Facebook, and instant messaging to that mix and you have a some great ways to not get work done.

read more »

My friend Jeff speaks several languages, and over the last few years he’s been trying (unsuccessfully) to get me back on the language-learning horse. Three falls off that horse is enough, thank you.

Last week, he pointed me to a debate between two language bloggers and a good analysis of the debate by a third language blogger. Not wanting to sit through the video of what seems like a dull debate, I skimmed the analysis. That definitely wasn’t dull!

Essentially, the third blogger said that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and you should do what works for you. While I’m not learning a foreign language, what he wrote definitely has a lot to do with writing (and other activities, too).

read more »

Taking notes is something that writers do. A lot. More and more writers I know are taking their notes digitally — in a word processor, using a text editor, online with Evernote, or using a smartphone.

Even with all the software and gadget available, taking notes with pen and paper — what some people call the analog method — is still popular with many. I count myself among them. I know, I know. It doesn’t jibe with something I recently posted. We all have our feet of clay …

As you probably know, my notebook of choice is a Moleskine. Sometimes, though, I need a bit more space and a bit more structure. Not just in what I’m writing notes on, but in the way I’m developing those notes.

And that means turning to the Cornell note-taking method.

read more »

If you’ve been reading this space for any period of time, you know that I use a variety of desktop and Web applications to do my writing. That combination gives me the flexibility I need — when working from home, or when working on the road or at a co-working space.

Lately, though, I’ve become reacquainted with an old friend: index cards. They’re a decidedly low-tech way of working on an article, blog post, or any other writing project. But the humble index cards are a very useful and very flexible tool. In fact, I’m surprised that they’re not a part of the toolkit of more writers.

read more »

Writers are human. Like everyone else, we’re susceptible to laziness and malaise. It makes working take a back seat to … well, just about anything else.

But there are times (many more than we care to admit) when we need to get a job done quickly. Why? We’ve let a deadline slide due to overwork or by succumbing to the dubious joys of procrastination.

Getting back on track isn’t easy. Getting yourself going sometimes takes a carrot, and sometimes takes a stick. If you find that panic and dread of a looming deadline are holding you back, you need to choose the stick. In this case, that stick is timed writing.

The idea behind timed writing is pretty simple: give yourself a limited amount of time, and a specific number of words to write in that time. Say 400 words in 30 minutes or 1,000 words in an hour.

Once you’ve done that, get a timer. Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a timer. It can be a stopwatch, a wristwatch with a timer, or even just an hourglass. From there, block out all distractions — music, radio, TV, the Internet, your mobile phone — and start typing.

You might not reach your goal at the end of the period of time you set. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you’ve gotten words on to the page (or the screen). And that can give you the momentum to keep going.

The great thing about this technique is that it’s not only useful for starting a writing project, but also finishing one. I don’t know about you, but there are times when I’ve got a few hundred words to go and for whatever reason just can’t push myself to write them. By giving myself 20 or 30 minutes to write those words I’ve found that I can get the job done. If nothing else than because I hate the sound of a timer going off …

Update: I just remembered that TextRoom, my favourite distraction-free editor, has a timed writing feature. I’m going to put that feature through its paces in the coming weeks. You can read more about TextRoom here. You might also be interested in a somewhat humorous Web application called Write or Die.

Photo credit: Jake Hellbach from Photoxpress