How to keep writing when you have anxiety ⋆ Books & Alchemy

If there’s one thing that will screw you up hardcore and keep you from getting anything done, it’s multitasking.

• Taking a “quick break” while writing to check social media 
• Allowing notification banners on your desktop to pop while you’re writing
• Popping back and forth among a dozen browser tabs looking for the one that had that picture you wanted to use as your protagonist’s inspiration
• Googling “research” for your novel while you’re also in Scrivener trying to draft the scene
• Moving your cat’s tail from the keyboard… again

When you’ve got anxiety (or you’re someone who’s grown up/lived around the Internet for a while), focus can be really  hard. Fortunately, your brain CAN be trained.

You have to make a conscious effort to make the change. This means: 

1. Setting yourself up for success
2. Developing awareness for distractions
3. Start by trying to focus on just one big task per day
4. Repeating this until it’s natural — all habits take time to build; give yourself a month to 6 weeks to feel like “a natural” at focusing on your writing.

The key to avoiding anxiety is to make sure it stays a passion and doesn’t become a chore.

• Where does your mind go in boring meetings? (stop multitasking, though!)
• If you had to write every single day for the rest of your life, how could you make that feel like a reward?
• What’s your Magnum Opus going to be?

Here’s an exercise that will help you focus your mind on writing, keep your creativity flowing, and reduce your anxiety all at once:

Every day, for just 3 minutes, meditate on your current WIP. Do it until you can call up every aspect of your plot and characters immediately, even when you’re doing other things. Then keep doing it.

It’s amazing the 180 you can do when you think about something for just 180 seconds.