Is Silence Golden For Writers?
Graham Strong, who writes a blog called A Few Strong Words and also writes white papers, has a post called: Cutting Out the Noise
There he talks about his own experience shutting down IM and email most of the day as an experiment to see if he really did get more done. Not surprisingly, he found he did.
Sometimes I wonder, no, I recognize that I like to be connected - to have the radio on, to let email notify me with a sound that more mail (spam) has arrived only because I don’t want to hear the constant chatter in my head. Of course, meditation also lessens those head voices.
But when I need to work on a difficult piece of writing, I turn off the radio and the phone and ignore the email. Silence can be golden for this writer.
What about you? Do you work better in silence? Or not? Tell us about it.
Write well and often,
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2 opinions for Is Silence Golden For Writers?
Graham Strong
May 27, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’m fairly lucky in that I can usually write with the kids screaming in the background, people walking around upstairs, phone ringing… I even like to get out to a coffee shop now and for a change of scenery, and “busy” doesn’t usually affect me.
Funny enough, I don’t usually have a radio on when I work though. Sometimes when I’ve writing fiction I’ll put some tunes on to suit the mood, but when I’m doing corporate writing I shut all that down.
It’s the interruptions, I think, that is hard to deal with. Full stop — answer the phone, talk to the person, try to focus on this new subject — then crawl back into the Zone. I can’t resist looking at the new email when the sound dings (it’s like Christmas — what’s under the tree…?); turning it off certainly was a new experience!
Everyone has their best ways of working. The key is to find the way that works best for you.
~Graham
Anne Wayman
May 28, 2008 at 6:45 am
So true, Graham… have also found that my best way changes over time.
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