I tried to be a good wife. We’re on our honeymoon and we are supposed to unplug and enjoy the week. But seven days with no internet can be really tough. We only have free wifi in the lobby, and it is slooooooow. Slower than slow. So slow that I can’t even open my email on it. Josh said something so simple, and it was brilliant: Just use Word/Notepad.
I’ve read this in other blogs before, but I’ve never really needed to use it (or so I thought). Even when I've used the notes app on my cell phone, I figured it accomplished the same thing. My blogging routine has always included typing directly into my Wordpress editor and adding photos as I go. But this time, I had no internet, so a desktop publisher was my only option. I tried it for an hour, I knocked out almost eight full posts. This never, ever happens to me when I have Internet access or a television nearby. It gave me the opportunity to focus on my writing while omitting the distractions that always suck me in on the web.
See, I start writing a post. Then I check in on Twitter or Facebook. Then I create a link to a product on the post. Then I start to notice other products. Then I look for more music on Spotify. Thirty minutes later, I have four sentences written down. I'm working longer, not smarter.
Here’s what I did: I started writing blog prompts as large headings, then filled them in with my thoughts. When my mind wandered and I thought of a new idea, I buried that at the end of the page, and added my thoughts on the topic. (This part is definitely a mind-cluttered mess, but my A.D.D. always get the best of me.) Nevertheless, I got plenty of work done, and wasn't distracted at all! In the future, I'll turn the wifi off on my computer for an hour and just write.