5 tips for getting rid of writing distractions

You’ve carved out time to write up a major report, but first you need to respond to two screen’s worth of emails, and the phone keeps ringing.

You take the work home on the weekend, but you end up thumbing through that pile of bills on the desk. And that reminds you: you haven’t gotten a present for your niece’s birthday, so you click on Amazon.com, and before you know it you’re watching talking dog videos.

If this sounds like you, TheAdventurousWriter.com has some tips—any one of which author Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen says will make your productivity skyrocket.

1. Spend 40 percent of your writing time planning.

Pawlik-Kienlen cites a study conducted by McLuhan and Davies, a communications training firm, which shows that efficient writers spend 40 percent of their time planning, 25 percent writing, and 35 percent revising.

2. Write like you’d build a house.