GregQualls.com speaking outside the box….sometimes | Albuquerque, NM

The Black Screen of Life

-picture courtesy of WriteRoom.com

If you haven’t noticed yet, I have really tried to start writing at least one post a day. I don’t necessarily have any planned goal in mind. I just decided that I really wanted to write more (with the encouragement of my wife and my friends). So I’ve been trying to find ways that will help me to do this.

One particular blog that I recently came across gave some helpful suggestions. Leo Babauta on his blog WriteToDone.com gives some really good advice on writing.
From writetodone.com:

Think about it for a moment — if you could write consistently for an hour (or two) a day:

* You’d write a whole lot over the course of a month, or a year. Your output would be prodigious.
* You’d meet writing deadlines, because procrastination wouldn’t be a problem.
* Your writing would improve, simply from the amount of practice you’d be getting.
* You’d feel great about your writing, which in turn would motivate you to keep going.
* You’d solve the problems of war and world hunger, from the brilliance of your writing.

Now the last part might not be true (or could it), but the rest has been true. I have truly enjoyed witting something everyday (sometimes more than once). And the constant red underlines has really improved my spelling (plus Shannon’s proof reading). The one thing that I have had problems with is just sitting down and writing.

It’s not that I don’t want to…it’s that I get distracted. I’m like a toddler who trades the priceless ceramic figurine in his hands for a set of keys. I’ll sit down to type and all the sudden I’ll wake up and realize that I’ve spent the past 30 minutes watching videos on YouTube.

Leo had another blog on this post that I read today that was of great help. He made several recommendations…but the one thing that I have found to help the most is:
From writetodone.com:

3. Use Writeroom. Writeroom if you’re on a Mac, or some other similar software (Writer.app is another good Mac writing program, and DarkRoom works well for the PC — I’ve used all three and love them).

Basically, these programs are for writing text, and nothing else. They block out the rest of your computer with a black (or otherwise faded) background, so that you have the text … and that’s all. They aren’t chock-full of features like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. You write in full-screen mode, with no distractions.

After reading this point, I downloaded WriteRoom immediately. I must say it felt a little weird at first writing with nothing but my text on a black screen. But then it became liberating. I was able to do what I set out to do…write. It’s amazing how many distractions we can fill our lives with (cell phones, email, web browsing, online games…email…and I have all these on just my phone). Sometimes we just have to get rid of all the distractions and do something.

If you like to write…I recommend WriteRoom. If there are other things in you life that you like to do but are distracted from…I recommend taking the time this weekend to decide what is distracting you from your goal. Take the time to find a way to eliminate those distractions and then do what you enjoy. It really is very liberating.