Obstacles, Distractions and Doubt

The following chapters are all about making the writing easier by eliminating things that make it harder. It’s that simple!

We’re going to talk about how to setup your desk, how to choose your writing tools, how to eliminate distractions that might occur while you are creative and last but not least: We are going to pre-load choices in order to minimize doubt and confusion when it comes to the moment you actually have to start writing.

How to make your writing habit even easier

Sometimes I sit down with every intention to write but I don’t. Or it’s harder than usual to actually start writing. Or I start and only minutes or seconds later I stop again.

And for a long time I didn’t know what the problem was. Yesterday my writing went fine. The day before too and I felt equally optimistic when I sat down this day. So why was writing so much harder than the days before?

I realized quite late in my career that the problem is that I came to a natural stopping point. I felt done with my writing for this day.

A natural stopping point can be:

I had just written a joke

I had just come up with a topic on which I could hang a lot of jokes

I had finished a chapter

I had finished a routine and I needed to try it out

I was waiting for feedback on some of my jokes

Natural stopping points are just that: Natural.

And sadly when it comes to writing there are no natural starting points.

It’s a little bit like throwing a ball: Even if, after landing, you got lucky and it continues to roll down on a hill, gravity will only take the ball so far. Afterwards you have to pick up the ball again and start throwing it once more. Starting something takes effort. And up until now we have talked about how to start a writing habit. We have talked about the picking the ball up. But not about what kind of ball you should be using and which direction one should throw the ball.

So we haven’t talked about what to actually DO while writing. A smartass would now say: “Well, writing. Duh!”

But that doesn’t answer so many questions and choices you will be facing during your writing routine.

What should I write about?
What tools should I be using?
I know what I wanna write about, but how do I actually tackle this idea?
There are so many starting points one can use. But which one is the right one for me?

There is no natural starting point. But you can make one that feels natural to you. Or at least can become second nature to you.

Bright Spots

Was there ever a place you could write better than any other place? Think about that for a second. If there was, what made it so good?

This approach to finding a solution is what Dan and Chip Heath call a “Bright Spot” in their book “Switch: How to change when change is hard”.

The idea behind a Bright Spot is all about not having to come up with a solution for your problem but finding out if someone else or even your past-self has already solved your problem for you.

Let me give you an example. When I still used to work from home I had a lot of problems getting myself to write and also getting myself to keep writing. Mind you, I hadn’t read about Tiny Habits yet. But when the not-writing became too big of a problem I used to pack my laptop and hop on the next train to a city about 50 minutes from where I live.

And me, not having internet on the train, leaving my headphones at home, I used to fire up my laptop and start writing.

There was a natural end to the writing: Arriving. Where I also would have a natural pause (waiting for the train back home). And on the way back home I would write another 50 minutes. Which would conclude the writing for the day, having arrived at yet another natural stopping point.

The pandemic stopped me from being able to take a train whenever I wanted to so I looked for something that would be able to emulate a train ride for me. And that’s where I am writing right now. In a small little office space fifteen minutes away from my apartment. Near enough so I can easily go home during lunch but far enough that I won’t be tempted to go home for just anything.

And: I don’t have internet here. So I won’t be tempted to while away my time with YouTube and Netflix. For me, it’s a near perfect solution. Costly but what I make back from actually working and writing makes it more than worth it. And also I save up on having to pay for train tickets. This is my Bright Spot. Do you have one? If so, try to get back to that place to write or emulate what made the space so good for you.

If you are just starting on your writing journey, keep on reading. In the next chapter we will think about what a good writing environment could look like for you.

Caveat Corner

Having my own little office for writing is luxury. I know that I’m very lucky and privileged being able to afford such a space. If you don’t have the money to rent your own room, maybe you can go to your local library and work from there. Most libraries offer tables where you can work without even having to pay for coffee.

One thing I did while still attending university was to go to a friends house to write. After a quick hello over a cup of tea she would leave me alone in the kitchen to come up with jokes.

THE ONE THING

This chapter feels too short for a summary. But write down THE ONE THING which was most useful to you from the chapter.
Then think about one way you can incorporate THE ONE THING in your comedy writing right now. WRITE! IT! DOWN!