Donald Miller https://thewritepractice.comHow do you stay focused when you're writing?

I was in the middle of a ghostwriting project, and I kept hitting a wall. One problem after another and I just couldn't think a way out. How did I deal with it?

Facebook games, obviously. CityVille. Kingdoms of Camelot. Zynga Poker when things were going really bad.

Unfortunately, my “solution” only seemed to make things worse. I needed to refocus. That's when I remembered a trick Donald Miller uses: a kitchen timer. When he needs to focus on one thing for a while, he just sets his timer.

It worked for Don, but would it work for me? I started scrounging around the internet looking for a digital egg timer until finally I found one I liked.

Introducing e.ggtimer.com, the simple online timer.

I started using my new e.ggtimer on my book project to great success. I would set it for thirty minutes, and take a break for five minutes to get my Zynga on.

I also started using it for my morning free writes, trying to write a single-spaced page of prose in thirty minutes. It pushed me to write more freely and not overthink it.

 

PRACTICE

Try it out. Use your e.ggtimer to freewrite for fifteen minutes, writing about anything and everything that comes to mind. You can even start your writing with, “I don't know why I'm doing this it's so stupid but some idiot told me to do it so I'm going to try.”

If, at the end of your fifteen minutes, your practice is so terrible you're ashamed of posting it, just post it as Anonymous. No one will know!

And don't forget to give feedback on other writers' practices.

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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