Focal Point
By Daniel Stallings, East Sierra Branch
What does it take to focus your mind, so you can finish what you’re writing? What helps you zero in on your goal: a completed story, poem, novel, article? Do you block out all sounds—no TV, no music, no probing family members? Or does that chaos sustain you? Do you need your own space? Can you work anywhere under any circumstances? Is it a different method for every piece you write? It can be helpful to any fledgling writer to learn about their work ethic and what they need to focus, no matter how wild it may be to outside eyes.
For example, I am currently working on several projects including a play script, the newsletter, a few short stories, etc. As per my M.O., I have a lot of irons in the fire. Finding a focal point story to work on isn’t one of my strong suits; I tend to have an army of open tabs on my laptop. All of them screaming for attention. And I don’t really have a standard ritual for my writing. Whatever worked for the piece worked. But this month, I have noticed an odd trend that watching the Olympic Games has helped in allowing the words to flow from my fingers to the page.
It’s a weird form of disconnection, a kind of multi-tasking. I can throw on a longer race or session through streaming on my computer or TV, sit and let the information from the event wash over me gently, and start typing. When I hear the commentators’ lift their pitch, I look up to catch the exciting moment or photo finish. Then back to writing. Even as I type this President’s Message right now, I have the Men’s and Women’s 10wK Open Water Swim races in the Seine River pulled up. A kind of background chatter as soothing as a white noise machine or the drone of a fan on a hot summer night. I don’t need to be glued to the action; In many events, there’s a lot of downtime. Whatever mechanism at play in my brain, it’s helped me knock out some new work I needed to finish. So I ask you, my fellow writers, how do you find your focus to complete your writing? And what new methods have you tried? Because no matter what your level of experience, you can always experiment to find the environment, the focal point, the circumstances that suit your needs. Don’t be afraid to switch it up. Maybe it can break a writer’s block. Improve flow. Whatever it takes to cross the finish line and say “I have done it. I have finished writing this piece.” Now that sounds like a win to me.
We reprint Focal Point from the President’s Message
of Writers of the Purple Sage,
newsletter of the East Sierra Branch.