Last year, I had a difficult time writing. Even the stuck list I discussed in a previous guest post wasn’t working for me. With deadlines approaching and no creative gas in the tank, I started to worry and reached out to a friend.
She asked me a simple question. “How do you prepare to write?”
I told her about my perfectly fine-tuned scheduled, how I juggled writing between other commitments and my lengthy to-do list. When I had a window of time, I sat behind my desktop, laptop, cellphone (whatever electronic device I had at my disposal), and that’s when I would write.
She laughed (in a kind way) and said, “Maybe that's your problem.”
She suggested I try meditation. It was my turn to laugh. I had tried meditation and thoughts bounced around my head like Tigger in the Hundred Acre Wood. She suggested journaling. (I didn’t laugh this time because it would have been rude.) I never liked journaling. It felt like an excuse not to put “real words” on the page. I thanked her, filed her recommendations away, and returned to my Barnum and Bailey’s approach to life, determined to do “all the things,” without success. Until one blessed morning I had a mental break through.
Maybe it happened because it was still early. Maybe it happened because I was in the shower, and it was quiet. I was standing under the water, going through my mental checklist for the day (maximizing my time, and winning, right?), when it hit me, the note behind my friend’s advice. My problem was mental clutter.
Mental Clutter
I love the way Amarie writes about this idea in her article on Medium: “Imagine the mind is like a web browser. Each thought, task, and worry is an open tab screaming for your attention. Some tabs may be for work, others for personal stuff, and others may be random anxieties. When too many tabs are open, everything slows down, and it’s hard to get anything done.”
My friend was right. My perfectly optimized schedule wasn’t optimized at all. My life had turned into a game of whack-a-mole. The fifteen minute windows I had taken so much pride in leveraging were opening more tabs, draining my focus, and slowing me down. More than that, it was suffocating my creativity because I didn’t have space to think, imagine, or let my mind wander.
I talked to Michael Bracken about the challenges I’d been experiencing, and he pointed me to Cal Newport’s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
Deep Work
Cal Newport defines deep work as “focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.” Context shifts (interruptions, checking email, social media) degrade your cognitive effectiveness. He explains that deep work is important because deep efforts are what move the needle, especially in knowledge work like creative writing.
To perform at an optimal level, he recommends the following: engage in deep work, embrace boredom, abandon social media, and eliminate unnecessary tasks. (He talks about this more on his YouTube Channel.) Armed with Cal Newport’s insights and recommendations from my friend, I decided my approach to writing in 2025 would be different.
In the evenings I mapped out my schedule for the following day, rearranging tasks, creating longer blocks of time to write, taking a mindful approach to deep work tasks and measuring their outcome. I discovered this focused approach helped reduce the chaos I felt in the past and helped me focus during writing windows.
Strategically Check Email, Social Media, & the News
I also blocked time in my schedule for checking email, social media, and reading the news—trying my best to do these activities after deep work sessions knowing they would trigger “open tab, open tab moments” and weigh me down. I also blocked email and social media during writing windows and left my phone on a table outside my office door, close enough to hear if the school called but far enough away so I couldn’t reach for it reflexively.
Know My Why
Roni Loren, an amazing performance coach, reminded me that when I say “yes” to something, I say “no” to my writing. It was sobering, and it has stayed with me. I have tried to look at new opportunities and consider them with this outcome in mind.
Prepare to Write
In order to take advantage of deep work blocks of time, I started journaling—morning pages to clear away the noise. I will start a bigger project soon. As an experiment, I have decided to try evening pages—brainstorming scenes I intend to write the following morning to prepare. I also made reading a priority again. It had fallen to the wayside when things were soul-crushingly busy, and I needed to read in order to write. I tried meditation again, two minutes each morning before I started writing. I focused on my breathing, and the difference it made was remarkable.
White Space
I started prioritizing white space on my calendar. I took the dog for a walk in the woods, no headphones, no recording device. I went for a run. Some of the best ideas I’ve had this year came during moments when I left my productivity expectations behind.
How do you prepare to write? Have you tried deep work? What productivity tips do you have for writers?
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Good piece, thx Stacy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Miguel! I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to learn that anybody keeps their social media on while they're writing. Even when I was younger and a much better multi-tasker, I never dreamed of multi-tasking while writing. And in the shower is precisely when the writing prep takes place—or call it meditation, inspiration, characters' voices or narrative voice speaking up in your head. That's when the mind is relaxed and the ideas can bubble up from that well we all have deep inside us. For me, it's often while lying in bed—after waking and before getting up—or doing my stretching on the floor, which is the next thing I do every morning. If something comes, I write until the fit passes, ie as long as it takes. Sometimes breakfast is very, very late. If I'm less driven, writing time is all morning, after breakfast, coffee, clearing my email, and checking my finances are out of the way and off my mind. The short version of prep is that I close my browser and open Word.
ReplyDeleteLove this, Liz! Thanks, for sharing. I particularly enjoyed this line in your post: "I write until the fit passes." I've never described it this way, but I will from now on. Thanks again for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I needed to hear right now! Thank you 😊
ReplyDeleteThanks for your note, Deb! I'm excited to hear you connected with the post.
DeleteThough I'm still not as organized as I wish to be, the advice in Newport's book has aided me in a variety of ways, and I've been more productive the first three months of this year than I have been in quite some time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thought on organization. I've found his YouTube interviews and blogposts more accessible. Thanks again for recommending the book, Michael! I'm grateful.
DeleteStacey, I learned 15 years ago (when the first of my 19 books was published) that if I wanted to be a professional writer, I had to turn off all social media notifications. I'm on deadline for contracts, so I have to treat this like a job. And now - so many years later - I've gone one step farther. I have turned off data on my phone, so that I only use it for texting. I keep it in my purse when I am writing, in another room. This sounds drastic, but I am not to be trusted with distractions!! smile
ReplyDeleteHi Melodie! Turning data off on your cell phone is an interesting idea--one others may not have considered. Thanks for sharing! I may do this myself. And congrats on your amazing list of publications! Just wonderful!
DeleteOne phrase that stuck with me said: "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly." A first draft might seem particularly ugly, but getting something down on paper is the important part.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the podcast reading!
Love this reminder, Leigh! I think we all need to hear this (many times), especially when writing is tough. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteGood stuff here, Stacy. Thanks. I mostly yell at Robin to leave me alone and turn on the white noise machine. Loud. Then sit there in front of the screen. A long time. Maybe write something.
ReplyDeleteThanks, David for the note! I use brown noise when I write. I had a friend mention it to me, and it's great when the kids are home. Thanks for sharing that idea. I know others will benefit from it, too.
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