7 Steps to Better Writing - Charles Maxwell 2020

Find a place where you can focus
Step 5 – Draft

Since drafting requires total concentration, it is essential to work where you will be free from distractions.

Most people work best in a quiet setting. If you are one of these, then minimize noise and commotion.

Some people have conditioned themselves to work well in environments that bustle with activity; but to write, they still divorce themselves from the hubbub by withdrawing into their minds. Malcolm Gladwell is one such person. He states he loves the hustle of a newsroom, and now that he no longer works for a newspaper, he tries to recapture the ruckus by writing in busy coffee shops.

When 32-year old Ray Bradbury drafted Fahrenheit 451, he had to escape the pleasant, but distracting attention of his two young daughters. Living on a meager budget, he discovered a basement typing room at the University of California, Los Angeles library. There, surrounded by students busily typing, Bradbury rented a manual typewriter for $0.10 per half hour and drafted his best seller.^[11]

In a day when people used quill pen and black ink, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a bathtub. Fortunately, personal computers had not yet been invented, or perhaps he would have electrocuted himself.

E. B. White, author of Charlotte’s Webb and long-time contributor to The New Yorker, secluded himself in a cabin behind his home so he could write.

If you are like most people, find a quiet place, close the door, and ask others to give you a block of uninterrupted time. If you normally work from a desk in the middle of an office with much foot traffic and a lot of noise, then schedule a quiet room, find an isolated desk, or arrange to work from home or a public library. Do whatever it takes to withdraw from the commotion so you can focus and write.