As you could probably guess from my previous articles, I like plain things and simple approaches. I don’t think there is any benefit in making our lives even more complicated than they already are. And because of this, I’m always looking for new ways to make tasks even easier to accomplish, and things even simpler to deal with.
Today I’d like to talk about some of the incredibly simple tips I use daily for creative writing. Now that I think about it, these tip are good for any kind of writing, really.
In any kind of activity, you have to find the state of mind where you’re not only committed, but also fully focused on your task. With writing, it’s very important to feel comfortable. Lots of factors will affect your level of comfort, and in this article I’d like to share the factors I found most important for myself. Hopefully, they will help you get more productive too.
- Clean and tidy workplace
As simple as this factor looks, it’s one of the most important ones for you. If you’re working in your home office, make sure your desk is as clean as possible. It should also be free from any unnecessary objects. Tidying your desk before you start any work is going to pay off, so never hesitate to spend a minute or two doing this before you start working. Put books on shelves and paper notes into paper trays (I’ve got 3 trays for GTD, so when in doubt I just put the miscellaneous paper notes into the “In” tray).
- Quietness or comfortable music background
It’s highly arguable whether you should leave any music playing at all, so you’ll have to find what works for you best yourself. I’m definitely seeing improvements when I switch from songs to instrumental compositions - when you stop hearing words you concentrate on your task much easier. Find what’s most comfortable for you. I find it best to switch working environment - one day I’ll try writing an article or two in our bedroom, with no music at all. On another day, I’ll listen to some instrumental music while working in my home office. On yet another day I could enjoy the softness of a leather sofa in our living room and listen to some music with my iPod. See what works for you.
- 45 minutes of time
This is something I’ve started doing only recently myself. Plan for your creativity time. Put it in your calendar and make arrangements with your family that you’re going to have at least 45 minutes of uninterrupted time to yourself and your thinking and writing.I can’t stress enough the dramatic difference this simple tip will make! When you have nothing else planned for the time and you’re not distracted with other tasks, your productivity level increases and you get into the creative state which makes writing a much easier task.
Don’t forget to get rid of your mobile. I leave it in another room and ask my wife to answer all the call while I’m writing.
- Go full-screen
If you have gone as far as booking the time for your writing, you might as well take it just one step further: close all the programs running on your PC, so that you don’t get distracted by your instant messenger program or an incoming email. You can close practically everything, but pay special attention to those applications with built-in notifications - you don’t want any of their reminders popping up while you’re writing.Go full-screen in your favourite text editor, and get rid of all the toolbars. Try and make it all configured so that there’s only your text and nothing else on your screen.
You can go full-screen in MS Word or Writer from OpenOffice, and few tweaks and settings will help you get a very comfortable full-screen mode. Make sure you go away from the classical “white background-black text” color scheme, as it’s not the most relaxing one possible. Find your combination, if your editor is flexible enough. If it is not, then simply go for ANYTHING different - like white text on blue background in MS Word - feels MUCH better for your eyes.
Here are the things I’ve done in my MS Word to minimize distractions:
- changed the color scheme to “white text on blue background” (Tools–>Options menu, General tab)
- got rid of rulers (View->Ruler option)
- changed the scale to “page width”
- switched to a full screen (View->Full screen)
After all these steps, there’s only a blue page for your wonderfully white text lines, plus a tiny yet terribly annoying “Full screen” toolbar. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to completely get rid of it; no matter what I did, it would try and get docked to one of the side panels. So if you know a workaround for this - I would really appreciate it if you told me!
Try applying these tips for a few days, and I’m sure you will see your writing productivity, concentration and even creativity levels go up! And as always, if there are any writing productivity tips you feel like sharing, please let me know!
译文:
提高写作效率的建议
从我早先的文章你大概可以推测出来我喜欢把事情化繁为简——平凡的事物和简单的方法。我认为把我们已经很复杂生活弄得比以前更麻烦毫无意义。因此，我一直在寻找能使我们的更容易实现目标，更简捷解决问题的途径。
今天我想和大家谈谈关于我平时创作的一些简单实用的技巧。由于我仔细的思考，这些技巧对任何类型的写作都有帮助。
在所有的活动中，你不但要有坚定的思想状态，还要把全部的心思都放在你的任务上。在写作的时候，感觉舒服非常重要。很多因素都会影响你的舒适度，在本文中，我很乐意与大家分享对我写作来说最重要的因素。真诚的希望，这些因素可以帮助你完成更多优秀的作品。
。清扫并整理你的工作室
虽然这点看起来很简单，实际上这是最重要的一点之一。如果你在家工作，要尽力使桌子保持整洁。那些多余的东西也要收拾好。在开始工作之前整理你的桌子将会得到回报，所以千万不要犹豫。把书放回到书架上，把零散的纸放到公文格中去(我准备了3个，所以当我不确定时我只要把混杂的纸张放到“非”文件格中就行了)
。柔和或者舒适的背景音乐
在工作时究竟是否应该播放音乐人们依然争论不休，所以你要去寻找最适合自己的工作方式。当我打开交响音乐的开关时我确信体会到了明显的改善----在那个时候你停止听歌词而把注意力很容易的集中到工作上。找到让你感到最舒服的工作方式。我认为最好的就是这种工作环境---有一天，我会试着在安静的卧室里写作。另一天，我会在我家的工作室边听器乐边写作。在以后的某一天，我还会在家里柔软的皮沙发上用我的iPOD听音乐。看哪样对你最有效。
。45分钟
这种方法是我最近才开始实施的。计划你的写作时间。把它放入你的日程表并且与你的家庭商定说你需要至少么不受任何人打扰的45分钟去思考和写作。怎么强调这个简单技巧所创造不可思议的功效都不过分！当你一切都安排好了而且没有其他的任务使你忧虑时，那么你的写作效率就提高了，与此同时可以更快的进入创作状态，使写作变得更简单。别忘了处理下你的手机。我把它放在别的房间并告诉我的妻子在我创作时帮我接电话。
。全屏幕执行
如果你到目前为止只是计划好了写作的时间安排，那么你最好做的再更彻底一些：关掉电脑的所有运行的程序，那样你就不会被信息提示程序或者刚收到的邮件所分心。实际上，你可以停止一切，但你要特别注意那些运行程序固有的提示性标志信息---当你写作时你也不想有其他的提示信号突然出现。在你的文字编辑器中做好充分的准备，关掉所有的工具栏。试着使所有的程序都在你的设定之内，这样一来你就会专心致志的去写文章了。
你可以使用微软文字处理软件或者OpenOffice的写入程序来进行准备。一些好办法和设置可以帮助你得到非常优越的全屏幕执行模式。确定你已淘汰了那种经典的“白纸黑字”的配色方案，因为那不是能让你完全放松的方案。如果你的编辑器足够灵活，那就找到你认为合适的组合。 如果不行，那就简单的去寻找写不同---例如微软文字处理系统的“白纸蓝字”方案---对你的眼睛很好.
以下是我对微软文字处理系统所做的最简设置：
1.把配色方案设置为“白底蓝字”（工具—>选项菜单，一般制表）
2.关闭标尺（查看—>标尺菜单）
3.更改已规定的“页宽”
4.切换到全屏幕（查看—>全屏幕）
经过这些步骤，那儿就只有一幅白线正文行的蓝页面，外加特别小的“全屏幕”工具栏。不走运的是，我还没有找到一个可以完全去除它的办法；无论我则我怎样做，它都会最小化到菜单栏的侧板中去。如果你知道解决这个问题的方法--如果你告诉我，我会非常的感激你！！