Write like the wind, a few words at a time.

February 12, 2012 8:34 AM

What are your suggestions for writing anywhere, as opposed to using a dedicated writing space?

I know some of the basic tools, like google docs, dropbox, note cards, a notebook, and maybe earplugs. I'm very interested in hearing what methods and perhaps psychological hacks you use to encourage your own writing in multiple settings and brief (or longer) sessions.

posted by mecran01 to writing & language (19 answers total)

Once I have an idea that I want to write down, it's fairly easy to block externals out.
If I'm not at home, most of the time I write with pen and notebook paper.
posted by luckynerd at 8:48 AM on February 12

I don't know about hacks or methods. Just start writing. Once you've written something, then go back and rewrite and edit it. Then rewrite it again. Then walk away from it for a bit. Come back later and rewrite and edit it again. Very few things are written, almost everything is rewritten and edited several times.

Put on different kinds of music or write at different locations, but really, just write and rewrite until it matches what you want.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:54 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

If ultimate portability and immediacy is your goal, a notepad and pen is king.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:54 AM on February 12 [2 favorites]

55-minute kitchen timer. I usually write in 20-30 minute chunks using the timer to break it up. It's small enough that I've brought it with me on vacations and such.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:55 AM on February 12

One advantage to PBWK's timer suggestion, whether you go full-on pomodoro method or not, is that you can teach yourself to focus in distracting environments. If you can work for 20 minutes because you know you have a break coming to look at twitter or have a tea, you can also work up to not being distracted for a period of time by knowing that you will let yourself be distracted when the time is right.

Another idea is to get comfortable with a genuinely small "zone" or bubble. Small adjustments to environment and ergonomics that really pay off are worth it; too much junk to schlep isn't. I recently went on a writing retreat, leaving behind my big 2-monitor desktop. I brought along a wireless mouse and a cheap plug-in usb keyboard and wrote on a TV table with the laptop elevated a bit on a little dresser unit set behind it. My workspace was tiny, but it felt very much mine.

A final thought is that your laptop can feel claustrophobic or expansive depending how you use it. I'm on Ubuntu, and I just recently got into using the 4 different workspaces to arrange different stuff: writing window in one, browser with zotero open in another, distractions like email in a third, music player in a 4th. CNTRL-ALT-arrow to move around, and I felt like I had "space" compared to alt-tabbing between layered windows and so on. Obviously your mileage and operating system may vary.
posted by Mngo at 9:14 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

I discovered, to my great surprise, that the louder and busier a place is the easier it is for me to block it all out and write.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:25 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Don't get discouraged if you try a certain kind of earplugs and don't like them. There are many kinds and it's definitely worth it to google for alternatives. The multi-flange ones feel entirely different from the foam ones, and within each of those categories there's also lots of variation.
posted by kalapierson at 9:29 AM on February 12

WAITING. Bus trips, airplane rides, any time I'm waiting and have no internet and no options on what to do, I get tons of writing done.

Makes me want to structure my life around frequent 4-hr bus trips, in fact.
posted by entropone at 9:30 AM on February 12

I forget the author that said it, but the advice was along the lines of "Stop just before you run out of ideas." Basically, work on a passage and when you're almost done with it, say you know how it wraps up but don't know where it goes from there, stop and walk away. That way you can always get going again (since you know where you are going), which is usually the hardest part. I do that and I also require a word count from myself on a daily basis.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:47 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

I can only get writing done away from my carefully-crafted den of distractions. I'm working on a novel, generally, so what I do is have a printout of what's already written, start from the end of that and, in longhand, continue writing on the backs of the paper. When I run out of paper and/or finish a chapter, I take it home and transcribe it, then print out the new section. Boom, fresh paper! This way I can work longhand and always have the whole manuscript handy without wasting a ton of paper.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:01 AM on February 12 [3 favorites]

I have employees in close proximity in my office, so none of us have any privacy. It's sometimes very tough to get an extended period to focus on writing (which we do a ton of in our work) without interruption or intrusive noise.

So when I have a deadline looming and things are hopping in the office, I retreat to the nearest McDonald's. They have all the essentials -- proximity of food and drink, wireless Internet, an electrical plug (if I'm patient to find the right booth), and a level of white noise that's impersonal enough to allow me to think. I'm a mom, so you'd think all the parent-child interaction would be a distraction, but I actually find it easy to ignore, and a bit of a relief that none of the chatter is directed toward me. Also, the McDonald's crowd rarely contains personal friends of mine (like I'd find at the Barnes & Noble coffee shop, for instance), so I'm almost never interrupted. I get a lot accomplished there!
posted by summerstorm at 10:30 AM on February 12

As with cameras, I think the main thing is that the best notebook is the one you have on you. When I'm getting a lot of writing done, it's partly because I take materials with me everywhere I go, whether I expect to need them or not.
posted by brennen at 11:21 AM on February 12

For me, earphones. I can write anywhere if I can listen to something, usually something I have listened to a lot. Otherwise I twitch. It's also useful to set yourself a goal/number of words, so I don't use excuses to escape early.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 11:32 AM on February 12

It depends on where I am. If I'm in a coffee shop or an otherwise public place, I pull out a small sturdy notebook and start writing. As hipster and expensive as they are, I LOVE moleskines for this purpose. Because they're so expensive, I feel like I HAVE to use it on a regular basis and it provides me with extra motivation not to lose it. I write short stories, so I devote the first twenty-five pages to ideas/character profiles/etc. and I use the rest for actual narrative. I cannot use a netbook in a public place, because I get easily distracted and start surfing Facebook.

If I'm driving or hiking, I turn on my voice recorder and narrate ideas to myself.
posted by oxfordcomma at 1:38 PM on February 12

The best thing I've found, is to go somewhere with only pen and paper. Coffeehouses are very good for me, something about the combination of coffee and background chatter allows me to focus. For me, the biggest part of writing is staring into space, so I need to stay somewhere for a couple of hours at least if I'm going to get a reasonable amount of writing done, so make sure you pick a café that doesn't kick you out if you dawdle.
posted by Kattullus at 2:40 PM on February 12

I find it helpful to use some photos to help orient me in what I'm writing. I stick them in a folder or in my notebook, and sometimes in my phone. Looking at them helps me recapture my point of view and mood, even if it's non-fiction. They really help with fiction, though. Otherwise, I tend to gaze around for ideas, and that's really limiting.
posted by xo at 2:43 PM on February 12

I forget the author that said it, but the advice was along the lines of "Stop just before you run out of ideas."

Robert Boice suggests this: "Productive Habits of Scholarly Writers"
posted by craniac at 8:35 PM on February 12 [2 favorites]

I can write anywhere with just a pen and paper if I'm just left unbothered long enough. That means I need to get out of the house and find a place where I can sit, put my (paper) notebook on a surface (table, counter, bar, lap, ...), sip endless tea, and sneak off for an occasional pee without losing my place.

I don't carry a phone, but assuming you do, I would turn off the phone. And if you are using a laptop, close all the messaging apps that might blink or beep at you, all the in-boxes that might show some distractions waiting for you: if you use a computer, you should have just a blank screen in front of you, blank or the text of what you're in the middle of writing.

If you're writing about something, take an artifact along to keep you focused: a picture, a quotation, a sample of the real thing. Put it in front of you and really focus on it. If it's text, rewrite the text to force you to look at every word, every letter, every piece of punctuation, and then say it aloud (or recite it in your head if you can't make yourself read aloud where you are). If it's a picture, redraw it to force yourself to look at each element in relation to the others. If it's a sample of the real thing, hold it, feel it, put your senses to work, draw it, list its parts and characteristics.
posted by pracowity at 4:08 AM on February 13 [1 favorite]

As hipster and expensive as they are, I LOVE moleskines for this purpose. Because they're so expensive, I feel like I HAVE to use it on a regular basis

I am exactly the opposite: I freeze if I am confronted with an expensive notebook. Give me an inexpensive pad (or the backs of old printouts) that I can fill with anything.
posted by pracowity at 4:11 AM on February 13 [2 favorites]