How I Write Distraction Free
By: Jayson Jeffers
Tags: Raspberry Pi, Focus, Single Board Computer, Writing Tips, Distraction Free

How I Write Distraction Free

Photo by Jeff Loucks on Unsplash

Eliminating distractions can be a tricky task when most of the devices we use come equipped with some sort of means to encourage procrastination. In order to become a writer, I needed to seriously consider some alternatives to the tools I use and how I prevent access to everything else. Before this, the only thing I would accomplish was jotting down some ideas and increasing the watch time for several YouTube channels. I needed to stop myself from consuming, so I could start creating. One thing in particular really helped set the course for this change.

I have a fairly high-end desktop computer that is more than capable of handling any projects I throw at it. I also own a mildly competent laptop that can’t do as much, but gives me that portability to work wherever I want. Neither of these were good options for me, though.

With the desktop, I could easily have multiple windows open across my dual monitor setup. No matter how much I wanted to sit down and write, it was a snap to toss over a video on my second display and scroll through useless posts on the other. There was also the temptation of pausing my progress and “rewarding” myself with a couple sessions of a video game. You know, “Just one more round and I’ll get back to writing.“

With the laptop, I’m able to calm things down a bit. It doesn’t have nearly as much horsepower as my main rig, but it does allow me to sit on the couch, in the living room, that has the television and other people who often like to strike up conversations with me. It’s portable. It gives me the freedom to work wherever I’d like. In fact, too much freedom. I need to have a designated place to work; One that is quiet and consistent.

This lead me to a tiny piece of tech that I’ve had around for a while. It is a small single board computer called a Raspberry Pi. Jam packed with a 64-bit quad-core processor, I’m able to open up maybe 4 tabs in the web browser and write this very article at the same time, while occupying only 540 megabytes of the available 926! That’s right, it doesn’t do much and that’s exactly what I needed.

All I need from a computer is the ability to write, look up words in the dictionary or thesaurus and if I want to stretch it, do some research on a particular topic. Anything else should be considered a distraction and has been banished from my sanctuary of success. Oh, and some chill instrumental music to help keep my focus. That one gets a pass, for now.

Someone who represents this concept admirably well is the author George R.R. Martin. This gentleman has been using the same writing program for decades now. Not only that, but he complements it with an equally ancient computer. Sitting at his desk, Mr. Martin uses a DOS based machine running the equally venerable WordStar 4.0. He does have a modern computer as well, but that one is meant for other tasks, like checking emails and browsing the web. When serious progress needs to be made, WordStar is where it’s at.

Image referenced by: Wikipedia

Speaking of software, there are only two of them that I use, FocusWriter and Artha.

The first one is simply a customizable text editor. You can change the font color, position, style and even the color of the little squiggly line that tells you when you misspelled something. As you can see, I decided to make it as plain as possible. I’ve added a slight blue hue to it and reduced the contrast between the background and font colors. What you see here is all there is to it. Pressing F11 puts it into fullscreen mode, which means there is no room on the monitor for distractions.

Image of FocusWriter

It also includes a clock, timer, word count and daily goal percentage that is only visible when hovering the mouse over the bottom edge of the program. Those are nice bits of information to know, but they aren’t necessary for the writing process, so it is good that their default position is hidden.

The second one I use, Artha, is a dictionary and thesaurus program. Yes, I could use the web browser to look up whatever word woes I have, but this provides me with an offline alternative. The more resistance I can put between me and potential distractions, the better. It even comes with a nice hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + W) that will look up the word I currently have highlighted. Unfortunately, this only seems to work when I highlight the words with the mouse and not the keyboard.

Image of Artha

To assist with keeping myself distraction free, I’ve blocked particular websites from deep within the operating system’s file structure. If you are using a GNU/Linux operation system, like the one that comes with the Raspberry Pi, you can access a file in the “etc” folder called “hosts”. You should navigate to this file by using the terminal. Once you are there, you can open the file with Nano, like this:

cd /etc

sudo nano hosts

Now that you have the file open, just add lines like the ones shown below to the bottom of the hosts file. Save it and no matter what you do, you can no longer access those websites.

127.0.0.1 [insert website url]

127.0.0.1 https://www.youtube.com

127.0.0.1 https://www.twitter.com

That’s it. That’s all there is to my writing setup. With a simple single board computer, I’m able to decrease my distractions and improve my focus for what is really important, writing. Do I recommend every writer to go out and buy a Raspberry Pi? No, but I do hope this showcases what is possible when you think outside of the box and focus on what is necessary for your stories.