There are many circumstances that can down you as a writer, whether you’re writing online articles or writing assignments on the PC for school or work. Many of them suffer from writer’s block, a condition in which they can’t think of anything else to write in order to continue writing.
But what about a new roadblock – writer’s distraction?
Unlike writer’s block, writer’s distractions are visible. Anything, whether in a group or just one thing, that stops you from writing on the computer for a while can be planned or unplanned. If writing online or researching a topic for a report or paper, you will likely face some connection problems (especially at lower connection speeds), thus putting your work at risk of being unsaved. Planned events, such as a checkup with a doctor of a personal training session can make you put your writing time on hold. In cases of states that have a lot of thunderstorms, my resident state of Florida included, you’re told to turn off the computer or else it can fry the motherboard. So what to do if you experience or will experience writer’s distraction?
Prewrite
The best thing to do is to prewrite what will you write on plain paper (especially if there’s a thunderstorm coming) – it’s what your English teacher or writing test expert tells you to do. If you want to start an assignment on something that needs to be researched or writing a useful article that requires research but you don’t have the time or right conditions to do so, create a KWL chart – make a three-column, two-row table, label the facts about the topic you previously knew under the K section, write about what you wanted to know under the W section, and leave the L blank. If you are short on time for a KWL chart, take notes on what you’ll be writing and put the slip of paper into something where it will be secure so you’ll know when to take it out if writing on the PC.
Save Your Work
If writing online, always save your work as drafts – many submission forms have a “save as draft” link on the pages. If writing on the computer for any purpose, write the text (or copy it) to a word processor and save the file. Save both a hard copy on the computer and save another on your jump drive. Your work is precious (or necessary for school or work success), so don’t forget to always save your work.
Bookmark your Citations
If you are writing something that needs quite a bit of research, like a school paper or an online article, bookmark your citations. I prefer that you make a folder of it on your bookmarks toolbar, label it, and place your pages that need to be cited under it. Make folders of separate topics that needed to be written about to be more organized and to save them for later use.
Do the Above and Just Move on!
We know that life isn’t always fair when there’s something that immediately stops us like thunderstorms or quick shopping trips in which family members drag us. So prewrite, save your work, and bookmark before the event or storm and move on. There’s more to life than writing on the PC for a specific purpose, be it school homework or writing articles! It’s the best way to overcome writer’s distraction, as well as writer’s block.
