Avoiding Distractions24 February 2003 Can mobile writing be more free of distractions than writing at home? Every writer is different. A lot of writers, or so I'm told, need a "sanctuary" in order to write. They need a place free of distractions, a quiet room of their home where they can tune out the real world and tune in the story. I've tried that, and it drives me buggy. My problem is that if I'm in my apartment, there's no sanctuary. Like many writers, I'm a bit schitzophrenic about writing; I feel compelled on some level to do it, but will gleefully latch on to any excuse not to do it. "Oh, gee, look at that. I could write, but the cat box really needs to be emptied." I'm a bachelor and a packrat. There's always something productive to do in my apartment other than writing. Right now the trash needs to be emptied, the catbox as well, and I have dishes in the sink that have been there at least two weeks. It's hard to get a column written with high-quality distractions like that. Which is why, of course, I'm not home. I'm actually at a McDonald's a few blocks from my apartment complex. I've been here for about two hours and will probably be here another hour. Restaurants are great places to write (see? I eventually got around to mobile writing). I've known for many years that I do my best writing in restaurants, but I only recently understood why. They're noisy, they're crowded, but the dishes aren't my responsibility and I would hope there's no cat box to clean. In other words, once I get done eating there's nothing for me to do but write. I generally don't mind the noise and bustle of the other patrons. If anything, the "white noise" around me just helps me focus more on the story. I'm a city kid and too much silence bugs me. But what if you're one of those "sanctuary" writers? Can you be just as comfortable writing on the go as you can at home? Sure. The trick is to remove the things that distract you from your awareness. I usually try to sit near a window, and if you can find a place with a bar and barstools along the window so you're actually facing out the window, so much the better. That takes care of vision. What about sound? I've tried two options and had varying degrees of success. Earplugs work well to deaden sound, but they look weird -- I get enough comments from passersby about writing on a handheld; I don't need anything else to draw attention -- and I'm not sure silence is necessarily the best option. Instead I generally pop in a pair of earbuds and listen to music while I write -- I'm listening to the score from "Fellowship of the Ring" as I write this -- at a volume sufficient to drown out the background noise. I have four complete CDs on my XDA in space-saving OGG format, all musical scores to keep me in a storytelling mood. Plop me down in a restaurant with a PDA and a Babylon 5 musical score, and I'm ready to write SF. If restaurants aren't your thing -- and you do have to pick them carefully to avoid getting your concentration broken by "Can I get you more iced tea, sir?" every ten minutes -- I've found that coffee shops, park benches, and even a nice grassy spot near a bike trail work just as well. As long as I'm not home. Which reminds me, I'd better get going. The cat box could really use cleaning. Jeff Kirvin
Jeff Kirvin is available for consulting on mobile technology. Email me today! |