unedited: 4 writing tools & a trick to stay focused

I am a master of distraction. I’m also an artist of deliberate distraction.

Many people come to me for a variety of ways to cultivate a deliberate writing practice. Penguin and Monkfish published my book on the subject that includes tips on writing with intention, bowing out, observing your transitions, stoking your fire, and riding the wave of concentration. And in my author’s mentorship program, we practice tools to connect with our personal heart line of devotion, set weekly writing sets, and show up for our regular writing sessions.

Still, I like anyone have a mind given to distraction. It thinks a lot. That’s what human minds have been doing for centuries. It’s not a big deal.

So, I have other simpler tools plus a cognitive trick (that psychologists and neuropsychologists are tracking now).

In this unedited video, I bring you into my studio at the end of my morning writing session to share with you four simple tools that help me stay seated or re-seated for two hours.

Normally, I produce higher quality stuff, but today I’m letting you see me even when I look at the wrong part of my iPad mini and wobble the webcam.

I share with you four concrete tools and one paradoxical cognitive tool for distracting yourself to stay focused.

I hope it inspires you to be brave and stand up for your story by staying seated, as it were.

My pal Jen Louden is over at her studio on the other coast tracking her writing sessions, too.

Share your most effective tools below.

Thanks for running with me,

Jeffrey