The most commonly suggested hint for hobbyist writers is: write in a specified hour of the day, each day.
Fine. You have set your organizer, so that you have that free hour each day. Your GTD system precisely set your time slices. You have turned the phone off.
Now, the only remaining thing to do is forcing that load of thought about your work and life to stay out. Focus on your tale. Have a clean mind for that only hour.
How do you do? In my experience with the music composition master classes, I start focusing only after a few days of not thinking to other things. How to concentrate that cleaning time just in a few minutes?
Seriously, your post reminded me of a short focusing exercise I liked but had forgotten about: http://www.neilfiore.com/article3.shtml. I found it quite effective.
Well - what has worked for me, so far, is rolling out of bed and booting up Scrivener. No food, no coffee, no radio - nothing. I get to the rest of my morning routine only after having done at least a ten-fifteen minute stint on Scrivener.
While doing this, if I feel at all unfocused or stuck, I will start by going over the previous day’s writing and cleaning it up. Then I just go on. Longer is better, but even fifteen minutes helps. If I write before even thinking of coffee, I find I am peaceful - in a semi-dreamlike state. It works for me!
Read an email from a teenager. Preferably a female offspring. Your mind will be cleansed as you hit the floor due to loss of consciousness caused by sudden spikes in blood pressure.
Only problem is that you mind gets clogged up again real fast.
If I want to write, I read. Seriously, if I sit down to read a good book for an hour or so, within five minutes I’ll be back at the laptop tapping away.
I write all day every day, so I’m not sure this applies to me, but if I’m on a deadline, I’ll get going with the music. I’ve even gone to one of my blogs and written posts that start with “Argh, I can’t write!” because there’s nothing like writing about how you can’t write to get yourself started.
I find the more you push to try to write, the harder it is. Flow happens when you let go and relax. Deciding to do something that isn’t writing might well have you scurrying back to scribble the moment you start on it.
