We should plan to get together or do a FaceTime/Zoom call to discuss strategies. One think I had to do when working on Alarm Clock Dawn was scheduling writing times as I would an appointment. I always would silence my phone and disconnect the laptop from Wifi so there were no temptations to hop online or be interrupted by messages. The key, once you sit down is limiting interruption, it takes around 15-20 minutes to refocus once you've been derailed. I'm about to jump into another novel myself this year. I feel like I'm heading off to boot camp again. : )
I'd love that, @ericvancewalton! What's the best way to get in touch? Discord? Keybase? We can always do an 11:00a.m. Friday at Gorkha for the lunch buffet. I still have a month or so without any travel scheduled.
That's exactly what I'm discovering. The biggest obstacle is myself, and I'm in the discipline phase right now. Scheduling times to write. It's tough because I have a son, and @vermillionfox to keep me company, but they're usually both gone during the mornings and afternoons in four days a week. The connected device is a problem for me as well [...again, back to discipline]. I'm working on a horror story that's part of the Lovecraft mythos, that takes place in the late 1880's. I find myself Googling things like "...did Puritans have springs in their beds?", and before I know it, I haven't actually written for an hour.
I'm getting better about allowing freeform stream of consciousness writing to happen, but it's still a challenge. My attempt to correct this is a very "first world" solution [...which I'm aware of]. I bought this Boox Nova Pro. It's about an 8" e-ink tablet running Android. It can connect to a Bluetooth keyboard. It does have WiFi, but from everything I read, the browser experience is SO bad, you wouldn't want to use it unless it was an emergency. I'm going to try and bring this [...and only this setup] to the coffee shop next week and see if it's a good experience.
I was amazed at how much I fell in love with my Kindle Paperwhite. Initially, I couldn't understand what people saw in those devices, until I bought one and realized the LACK of notifications, features and stimulation is what made it so great. Everything gets out of the way and you can just read. I'm hoping this'll be a similar experience, but from a writing point of view. I'll most likely do an entire Steemit post on how it goes.
I'd love to get together, man. If you're on Discord, my username is kommienezuspadt#6545 and on Keybase, I'm just kommienezuspadt!
Discord is probably best, my username is ericvancewalton#4931. I'm sure we'll be able to get together before you leave in a month. We're planning on doing an extensive road trip but, if we do, it probably won't be for a few weeks. No matter what we can always do a video chat if in-person doesn't end up working out.
The Boox device sounds like a decent solution! I can't wait to hear about your experience with it. Completing a work of long-fiction is really like a journey of self-discovery, isn't it? I've had the sequel to Alarm Clock Dawn (Truth Is Stranger) about 75% done for years but have been preoccupied with other things since 2017. I'm going to dive into it this year with the aim of getting it done.
I'll send you my mobile number via Discord and hopefully we can synch up soon! Take care, Lars and stay warm!
Eric! So good to see you in this post 💙 I need to chat with you soon after your holidays. Enjoy every minute....I actually sent a WhatsApp message but it seems you changed your number. Dive into the ocean for me. Still in the middle of Austrian winter.