Blogging Tips

Writing is an activity that requires some form of focus. This holds true for blogging as well. We want to keep our focus to make that post the best it can be. Once we get into that “groove”, we want to stay there. For most, this can is easier said then done.

Here are some ways to keep that focus on that next great post:

Phones – How many times has the phone rang at an inopportune time? You are having dinner, taking care of your children or something important just to have the phone start to beckon you. This will hold true while you are focused on writing as well. Don’t let your focus become broken by a ringing phone.

I like to turn off the ringer or set my calls to go to voicemail when I am trying to focus on writing. I know not everyone can do this; however, this is one way that will help with keeping that focus on writing.

Email – Many, many people in this world rely on email to communicate and keep in touch with friends and business alike. There are those that use email on their computer and phones to make sure that every precious email is seen. This is one distraction that can break your focus while you are writing.

You are focused on writing that great post, and then an email flashes on the screen. You stop writing and go read that email; you are now breaking your focus by reading that email. Reading email can not only break your focus, it can change your thought process altogether.

When I am writing, I will shutdown my email client; once I am finished writing, I will re-open my email client.

Time – Each time your focus is taken away, the amount of time it takes to write that post will increase. For me, I rather not waste time when I could be doing more with that time. More time means having more opportunities for other activities.

Time is one thing most people want more of today. I previously wrote a post on this for blogging: Time Management for Blogging. When you build in ways to save time, you save time to focus on your writing.

Internet and Social Media – Have you ever sat down to write something while you were surfing the web or partaking in Twitter? More then likely, your focus was not completely into writing that article. I know some can’t stay away from surfing the web or tweeting on Twitter; however, removing the distractions will help you to keep your focus on the writing at hand.

I do realize that the web and social interactions such as Twitter and Facebook do have their places for writing research; however, I would keep this to a minimum if possible. I have gone as far as disabling the network on my computer; when the network is disabled, I am not tempted to start looking at those distractions.

Focus for Better Writing

The next time you are sitting there ready to write, think of removing distractions to keep your focus. Not everyone can remove all distractions while writing; however, removing some of the mentioned can lead to a better writing experience.

What do you do to focus on your writing?

I would love to hear what you have to say on the subject.