ITauthor podcast #22 – Getting into the writing zone
December 7th, 2008 2 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The voices in this podcast belong to: Graham Campbell and Alistair Christie.
On a recent StackOverflow podcast, a listener asked the presenters for tips on how to "get in the zone" as a programmer. We take up the theme here and talk about how you can get yourself in the writing zone as a technical writer, and we try to identify the things that prevent you from getting in the zone.
Preparation
Do adequate research up front so that by the time you you start writing you can continue writing without having to keep stopping to check things out because you know your subject.
Avoid distractions: Email
Resist reading your emails throughout the day, as they arrive. If you *do* read your emails, resist the temptation to act on them there and then. Make a note of things you need to do and come back to these things later.
Avoid distractions: The Internet
One Web page draws you to another and another and another, and before you know it half an hour has passed. Steel yourself to stay off the Internet. When you *do* need to visit a Web page, imagine you're back in the days of expensive metered dial-up, when using the Internet was a case of getting on there, getting was you needed as quickly as possible and getting off again. Just imagine you're paying from your own pay packet for each minute you spend on the Web during work hours.
Listen to the right kind of music
This one's a personal thing. I can mentally turn down the volume on conversations going on around me in the office, so that I'm not distracted from what I'm working on, until someone says my name a couple of times. But you might be the kind of person who finds that difficult and naturally can't help but listen to whatever chat is within earshot. If that's the case you might find it useful to put headphones on and listen to music. But it has to be the right kind of music. If you play songs you'll be listening to the lyrics. If you play music you really like, you'll be busy enjoying the music rather than writing. If you play mood music, you've got to make sure it's the right kind of mood: if it's too reflective or sombre it may bring you down. Graham recommends film scores (e.g. the music from the Transformers movie). I rarely listen to music while I'm trying to work because I tend to find the music gets top priority in my mind and I find time will pass and I suddenly realise I've just been listening and not working. One time the folks around me were chatting a lot, and too loud to tune out, so I listened to some free background music I'd downloaded for the backing track of a video demo I'd produced. The music was very innocuous and repetitive and I played it on a loop. That worked pretty well. I also sometimes use headphones with no sound just as a visual "don't talk to me" sign. That's pretty effective if you need to get on with work and don't have time for chatting.
The "meh" effect
It's Monday morning and the weekend just wasn't long enough, or you had a bad night's sleep, or you had an awful commute to work. You need to find something to raise your spirits, shake off those negative feelings and get yourself into a frame of mind where you want to do some good work. How you do this is going to depend on your own psychological traits and what works best for you. So if rewards work for you, you could promise yourself a reward of some sort if you get a realistically achievable amount of work done - just to get you going. For example: if I write 2 decent-sized help topics by lunchtime I'll buy myself a slice of chocolate cake to have with my coffee at lunch.
Meetings
Avoid attending meetings that you don't really need to attend. Can someone else who's going to the meeting report back to you with a highlights version of what was discussed? If you need to go along to the meeting can you be called into it just the bits that directly concern you and then duck out when the discussion moves on? If not, and it's a long meeting, can you take in a laptop and do some work (even just catching up on email) while other attendees are discussing issues that don't concern you? For all meetings, make sure they're time boxed. If the meeting is scheduled from 2 till 3, make sure everyone knows that you've got something you need to do at 3. If you can, time-box contributions within meetings. We use a little application called Dinner Timer [LINK AND PIC] that gives the person raising an issue a set time to discuss that issue. It counts down on the screen and sounds an alarm at the end of the allotted time, at which point the meeting moves on to the next issue.
When you're in the zone, stick with it
Working late when things aren't going and you're having an unproductive day isn't particularly smart - better just to go home and tell yourself you'll get in early the next day. Go home, relax, have a nice meal, have a long soak in the bath, get a good night's sleep. But when you *are* in the writing zone, hang on in there and make the most of it.
Give yourself realistic deadlines
Nobody works efficiently if they're working under stress. If you make your own schedules, try to make sure the dates are achievable. If someone else gives you a schedule, don't agree to dates unless they're achievable. It's going to be less stress overall if you have a bit of aggravation up front renegotiating a schedule that has a better chance of success.
Don't expect to always be able to get in the zone
When you're working on a larger project (e.g. an iteration of development on a new product) you have more chance of getting in the writing zone and having really productive days. But for some types of documentation work that's just not going to happen.
Recommended applications
Adobe Lightroom: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
Microsoft PhotoSynth: http://photosynth.net
Foldersizes: http://www.foldersizes.com
Recommended podcasts
Steven Fry's Podgrams
Right now the RSS feed for this podcast is broken, but here's a link to Steven Fry's Web site:
http://www.stephenfry.com/media/
A Way With Words
KPBS Radio in San Diego
http://www.waywordradio.org
http://feeds.waywordradio.org/awwwpodcast
The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.
I wanted to find out how people of different generations use computers, what they use their computers for, how they use them and what they feel about computers and software generally. So who better to ask than three generations of women from my family.
Finally, she's also the only person I know who's ever had anything good to say about the Microsoft Office Assistant dog. 
Painter Classic
I wanted to find out how people of different generations use computers, what they use their computers for, how they use them and what they feel about computers and software generally. So who better to ask than three generations of women from my family.
Graham Campbell talks to attendees at this year’s ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) Conference in Nottingham.
December 12th, 2008 at 5:05 pm (#)
Alistair, I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know I've been listening to your podcasts and following your blog posts. I've only listened to one of your three generation interviews, but I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed your discussion about productivity. In some ways, listening to your podcast makes me feel as if your my virtual colleagues.
I don't get many comments on my podcasts, but I realized something as I was listening to you and Graham. While the number of podcast listeners may be fewer in number, the connection that users make with podcasters is on a scale far above blog posts. I scan through dozens of blog posts each day, and often skip over the authors. But when I listen to a podcast, I feel like I'm hanging out with the hosts for an hour. The connection is much more personal and powerful.
I'm glad to see you publishing so many podcasts, and I hope you continue at this rate. I too am trying to do more podcasts, even though I haven't done many lately.
Also, I enjoy the podcast recommendations that you include at the end of your podcasts.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:34 pm (#)
Tom
Thanks for getting in touch. I've been trying to do more podcasts but, although the stats I have suggest most shows get downloaded a few hundred times, I have no way of knowing how many of those downloads are ever listened to. So it's always nice to know that there is someone out there listening to some of them. Keep up your prodigious blogging work and I look forward to hearing more podcasts from you in the near future.
Also, kudos for WriterRiver - it's a great idea and helps to keep the tech writer community well informed without requiring us all to read everything out there. As long as someone posts up anything really interesting they've come across, then everyone gets to hear about it.