Latest / Writing Excuses / 21.12: Breaking Down Barriers- Environment

Transcript

21.12: Breaking Down Barriers- Environment · Writing Excuses

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons and friends.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit www.patrion.com slash writing excuses.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Season 21, episode 12.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is writing excuses.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Breaking down barriers.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Environment.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tools not rules.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Four writers.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: By writers.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mary Rubinette.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Dangan.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Erin.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: This week, we are talking about the barriers to your writing process.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: We started off a little bit earlier this season talking about this sort of track of the curriculum, this season that is talking about like, how do you find in your process?
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you keep going?
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you make sure that you're in a space where you can keep working on the stuff you want to be working on?
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: and so we're going to be doing a series sort of following on to the process conversation about what are your barriers to writing, what are the things that are getting in your way, how to analyze them, how to figure that out, and you know some solutions from us on how to deal with it.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the first one we wanted to start with is kind of the most obvious.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: what are your the environmental factors getting in your way?
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that could be everything from what's your desk set up, where's your office, what's the light like, what's the sound like, those kind of things, right?
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I guess what I just want to start with is for each of us, what is your ideal working environment and do you feel like your current workspace fulfills the
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: My workspace, like I honestly don't know what my ideal would be because I move around so much when I'm writing currently what I have and I quite like it actually.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in a furnished apartment and it came with a standing desk with a giant monitor.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I find that I love that, I've had a standing desk before and I really like it because it reduces, like, I can just walk to the desk.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to worry about pulling things out and stuff like that.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: But for me, the things that I found that I need for a long term writing solution is I have to have a window.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I can't see outside, I get like a little scoryly.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I need a comfortable keyboard, I need a monitor that I don't have to strain to see.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I need the right kind of sound, which varies depending on project.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So control over my sound.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I guess would be the better way to say it.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some examples.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: interesting because I have two different sort of setups in my apartment.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: One is a sort of my desktop setup, which is a desktop with dual monitors that are exactly the same size.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's just two of the same one, and I do feel like I'm probably the most productive when sitting up in front of my desk doing that.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: However, there are times when I just get sick of working, I can't explain.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm just like, oh, more writing.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you need to explain anything about working.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was a very normal emotion.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why?
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so I also have a laptop that I use mostly when I travel.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: But sometimes I will take it and I will just sit in front of the TV, which is interesting because I know I am not as productive, but it's like I can work on half productivity, but less annoyance at the fact that I have to be somewhat productive.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: if I sit on my couch and like type on the laptop while like 18 seasons of American greed playing the background or some other show that cupcake wars that like is so repetitive that it doesn't really require any full attention but every so often something interesting happens and I can look up and be like
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I cheated him out of all that money or I didn't get a cupcake and then go back to what I'm doing.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I forgot that when I was in Chicago, I did have something that kind of felt like the ideal thing.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had a desk for work, like emails, etc.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I had a Shaze Lounge that was wide enough for me and a cat for writing and was next to the fireplace in a window.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it was glorious.
• 4:07
  [UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, for me, I think a little bit similar.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have, uh, I have my own office in, in the place I just moved to, um, and I do a monitor.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, one is hard.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's on to one is vertical because a lot of what I do is look at contracts.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, a vertical monitor is very helpful for comparing documents.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think the biggest thing for me is I need my desk.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I need very low visual clutter in my workspace.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So my desk is like, there's like nothing on it aside from the devices that need to be there.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and then, uh, I think that's like one of the biggest things for me is just like not a lot of visual density where I'm looking.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: My biggest struggle is run natural light.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like to work in a little dark cave.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I really like natural light, right?
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think finding an easy way to balance those two things is a thing that I have yet to quite figure out at this stage.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In part, my office is also like where the projector is set up to watch TV and stuff.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so it has really intense blackout curtains that I could just open.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which results in having a secondary thing which is I'll often take my notebook and go outside and sit outside and work if I'm doing something that's not computer-based.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll go sit.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have like a little picnic table outside so I can sit at that and work.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or just making deliberate time to be like I'm going to sit in the garden for a little bit because I've been in my little cable day.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think balancing those is part of the trek and figuring out what do I need right now in terms of
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, natural light in terms of having like this little dark space that I can focus and concentrate in is it's an ongoing sort of like how do I balance this yeah I find that when I'm it was interesting when you asked me what my ideal place is because I've spent more time thinking about what gets in my way then yeah so like what am I running a from instead of what I'm running to if that makes any sense yeah.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what I tend to do because I have ADHD and I do get distracted with shocking ease and hindsight and that was my whole life.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But like I will run through my senses to kind of check to see is it when I'm bouncing off going it's like is it is it a thing that is happening
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, is it a thing that's happening with the stories, is it a thing that's happening with outside world?
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when it's a, when it's a thing with the, the writing space, um, the recommendation I have for folks is literally run through your senses, sight sound touch, scent and taste.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and like some people, I, like, I cannot write with the TV on that's a,
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: It sound as a big one for me.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: My last apartment before this one was next to a major road and having moved, I can tell how much just the constant road noise was draining me on some level that I had any really clocked.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm now like having a nice little quiet room has been so much better for me.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Speaking of sound, I remember in the time I tried to like, Pavlov dog myself into writing more constantly years ago where I had a specific song that I would always listen to at the beginning of every writing session to the point where I just associated it so heavily with writing that I could put it on.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: It had nothing to do with a random Tracy Chapman song, but I was like, okay, this song is on, it's time to right now because it's
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Listening to y'all, I'm realizing that I'm sort of like a disembodied like consciousness in that I think like a lot of times I just screen out everything that is happening around me and like unless it is really big I will not notice it like I wear noise cancelling headphones in my house 99% of the time And so when storms happen it startles me because until the actual thunder hits I have missed the 18 other cues that we are doing
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, we got darker.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, oh, this happened.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, I missed all of that until it's like, Google hung, and I'm like, what's happening around the back?
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: What the fuck?
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: What the fuck is that?
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cableable working anywhere.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I see you work in like, noisy bars in airports, in hotel lobbies.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, in your hotel room with that eye, I wish I was more flexible where and how I could work.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are a couple of tricks that I have for like working in places that aren't my normal space of working, you know what I mean?
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: This last couple of weeks we've been staying at this retreat center and their certain spaces here are work great in and certain spaces I don't in my room unfortunately is one that I don't work great in and over the past few days we've been more limited to our rooms and I've noticed that my ability to work gone.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I finally realized that I needed to sit facing the window because I'd been sitting with my back to the window facing into the room and I was like, oh, look outside.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's better.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Also those chairs are not comfortable.
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: No.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Which is like one of the things that was happening to me in Chattanooga that I didn't realize how uncomfortable my chair was that it was it was just uncomfortable enough that I was getting up but not so uncomfortable that it was causing
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when I switched chairs weirdly the chair that worked best for me was like one of those old wood school house chairs was just ergonomically fit me exactly right.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that was that was better.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that I I've also done the Pavlovian training of myself.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a writing playlist, which is instrumental versions of Power Anthems, which I love, like, violin with 80s for Rock Power.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is amazing.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also, I started doing Brain FM, which is by Norl Sound.
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, this is science driven, or is this like,
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: and sometimes who cares?
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes who cares?
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it is deeply annoying because it works really, really well.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I turn it on and I do get more focused and I get more work done.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: 90% of the time I want it quiet, 90% of time it's just me working in silence, but there are certain times when I get into hit space where it's like, my brain is too noisy and I need something to like suppress that on this weird way.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so friend of mine made this playlist that we call work heavy that is just like really pounding, driving,
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like industrial horror rap basically and it's like the lyrics are fast enough and a lot of stuff that you don't really make them out but also like if you stop the lesson you're like what's happening?
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: What am I listening to?
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, they made this thing and I use it all the time and it really helps me like power through a block in a certain way because it just something's just also like the beat and the aggressiveness will just be like okay I'm going doing the thing you know.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's funny.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm thinking about like how tiredness also affects all this because when I I also have like I have like a regular playlist that I listen to and normally it's fun and like I will ignore it even though it's songs with lyrics or what have you But the more tired I get late at night if I'm still working I will easily get distracted by the song because I want to be sleeping
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so my brain's like, I don't want to be doing this anymore, I'm done with you.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so I actually have to switch to instrumental.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's the only time that I listen to instrumental is like late at night when I'm still trying to focus, because I think I do focus more and it's the one time that I need the extra boost to carry me through my actual physical state, which is like, oh, this is not quite working for me.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just for listeners, we are going to be doing a whole episode about physical fatigue later.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But let's take a break there.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when we come back, I want to talk more about how to troubleshoot these problems.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So as we've been talking about understanding what your ideal workspace is in terms of these different sensory things, right?
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like visual sites, sound, you know, sort of physicality, sitting in your chair and things like that.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you start troubleshooting when something feels off?
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like when you're having a problem, how do you work backwards to
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I really do sit there and run through my senses and sometimes it will involve sitting in the chair and going, what is distracting me right now, what's pulling my attention.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will sometimes journal it and it's like, is there a problem with the story?
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's, I become aware that it's an environmental thing when there's not a problem with the story and I know where I'm going, but I still keep getting up.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's usually a trigger or a cue and if I if I'm doing some journaling like is there other stuff because sometimes it is the fate of the world which we will again be talking about later But usually if I just sit or stand in my spot like what is making me feel unsettled right now I also have to have a clean desk and for the long most of my life.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was not but now I realize how important that is
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so that kind of thing.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think for me, like when, because a lot of times I'm ignoring my body, uh, when something comes through, like, I need to pay attention to that signal.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: So like, I will be sitting at my desk and be like, it is hot in here.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm the wife.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm like, oh, like, I forgot to turn on the air.
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Whatever.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's Texas.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, like, it's hot.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then I'll be like,
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: but wait keep working and I have to remember that the three seconds it's going to take me to go adjust the air or put a fan on is worth all the lot because it feels like oh I don't want to step away from what I'm doing but then I'm going to think in like 30 minutes or 10 seconds like how does really hot I'm so hot right now like this is so annoying and so I think it's like for me it's it's less being able to recognize this signal and more knowing what to do with it because I
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have not eaten, so sometimes I also think like, have I eaten today?
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Am I caught?
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, what is happening and try to like, but I never thought of it senseless, which is interesting like what the senses are, because it may be that I'm noticing it without even realizing it.
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that was the thing that I, that was the thing that made me realize that it was my chair, was that I was like, what is, what is it, and just bumped through the senses.
• 14:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean the thing that I struggle with sometimes is exactly what you're talking about Aaron in terms of overcoming the threshold of I need to deal with this right the like I'm uncomfortable right now, but like I need to get up and go get a glass of water I need to turn the fan on because my room is hot.
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: or I need to spend five minutes researching a solution to the problem that I'm having, of like, my pens are all over my desk and it makes me insane every day.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's a better place can put my pens?
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I need a caddy or a thing or something, right?
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: This also leads to the flip side of it, which is sometimes I end up buying 18 different productivity things that make no difference at all to my life.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I mean, and you know, I'm someone who's very easily swayed by the aesthetic thing that looks nice and then does not meet my function for whatever reason.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a little YouTube video that I think about all the time that has a key line in which is sometimes expensive things or worse.
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I think that a lot.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So as when I'm like, there's no book is very beautiful.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not meeting my needs as a physical object that increases my productivity.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 15:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will, in those cases, what I will also check is, is the thing that I'm working on something that makes me want to flee.
• 15:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because if it's something that makes me want to flee, then then I'm like, you're not actually thirsty.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You, you just want to get away from that.
• 15:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just being avoided.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 15:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't actually need a new pen writing.
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's right now.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm laughing because I just remembered a week ago where I changed the ink in my pen for no reason and clear that I just didn't want to do whatever.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I have done that and been like, well, now I need to clean all of my founds.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I find that if I can, if my desk is clear, then my note, because they're and then I can make a note to myself that I need this thing.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: So.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so like running through the, you had said, let's, let's talk about some of the, the things we can do to solve problems.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, as we already talked about some of the sound things, um, sight things is one of the things I actually want to really flag for people because our phones are a visual stimulus.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they are designed to get your, your, your, your noise or all of the things that are happening on your, your computer.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So nurse made apps like freedom.to.
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a minimalist app on my phone just turning off notifications.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: even just customizing your do not disturb settings you can turn it on and then you know that oh if the school calls it'll still come through because I said I might do not disturb properly right even just taking the five minutes do that could be really helpful.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I have a bowl that I put my phone into that's on my desk it's an aesthetically pleasing bowl.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the action of pulling it out of the bowl is so specific that I notice it, whereas when it's just on the desk, like that's, you set the phone down and all the time and pick it up.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it wasn't enough of it.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is different.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: You made it.
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You set it there because you didn't want to use it.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: you have to figure out what the barrier is and the opening the bag to put the phone in was too much about their ears and the bowl works better for me.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: So funny, because I feel like I'm the opposite way, but the same, totally makes sense.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Which is that like I wear a smartwatch, because I think digital watches are a neat idea to call back to previous episode.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I just like the fact that it will buzz if something is happening that needs to pay attention to.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: So to me, I think the danger is if I'm just getting an email, I actually don't find that distracting.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I can easily process, is this something I need to do?
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is it new work?
• 18:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is it like a thing?
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Cool.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'll deal with that later.
• 18:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I use like a very, uh, not complex, but I use like a tagging system in my email to say, like, I have a two respond tag.
• 18:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I'll just be like, okay, tag that to respond that I won't forget about it, and I know it came in.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I don't check my phone to see if anyone has texted me or called me because if they did, I would know it would have buzzed.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: So there's no reason to just look, and I found that before I had the watch, I would pick up the phone thinking like, oh, maybe somebody in my family texted me and, oh, let me check the state of the world while I'm holding this.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, God!
• 19:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the notifications won't tell me about the state of the world.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: They will only tell me about the state of
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: people who are trying to reach me in this moment, and I can easily, like, for me, at least, distinguish between what's important there, and what isn't, and I don't freak out thinking I'm missing things, which I think is a thing for me.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I also do literally opposite, but because my job requires me to not miss messages when they come in and get those notifications.
• 19:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I literally have a magnetic charging stance, so my phone is directly under my computer monitor.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if it buzzes, I can look down and be like, oh, my mom texted, I can respond to that later.
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, mom.
• 19:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or, you know, my boss is calling me, I need to pick that up and see what he needs.
• 19:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's funny because I developed a bowl because the thing I used to do was to put my phone on an airplane motor when I was writing.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And with mom, I had, they had to be able to reach me.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the phone would buzz.
• 19:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like if someone needed to get to me, the phone would buzz and it was much louder in the bowl when it buzzes.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there's a limited number of people.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the vast majority things, if they have to wait half an hour or an hour, there's almost nothing that is that urgent that is a business thing.
• 20:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think for me, the reason also, I'm thinking about environment, I'm sure we're going to talk about this in another barrier later, but like, I think part of environment is people in your environment, like who is in your environment, physically, and I think as somebody who lives alone, like I think I also like the buzz because it reminds me that like, I'm actually a person in the world and people want to reach me, even if it's just to tell me about the great sale, I can only 20% off today, but it makes me feel connected in a way if I'm like, this is the fifth day in a row that it's just going to be me,
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: in my house working and I think that is why I'm like, oh, at least somebody at the sale care about me, type of thing that sounds bad.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: But you know, I mean, it's a nice to see like, oh, family members texting me, let me see what's going on there.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so I like being able to have it right at hand.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm sharing space with a new person in my life.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, when we moved in recently, we had to have a conversation about like, okay, what are our signals for?
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm in eruptable.
• 21:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not an original.
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: What level contact do you want throughout the work day?
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, and for me, it's the problem with me is it's variable some days.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like,
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can come in and chat in the sun and make it on those other days where I'm like, I need to be focused on this.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So even just coming with a couple really clear signals to roommates, partners, children, whatever it is of door closed door open, you know, maybe a certain light in the hallway on or off those kind of things.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just come up with some system that lets you signal to other people, hey, I'm interruptible.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not interruptible.
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The biggest thing I hear from people is they just constantly, you know, have those interruptions in a derails them.
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So finding ways to protect your space from your loved ones is also really important.
• 21:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're going to do a whole episode on on how to manage interruptions because they do happen.
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so like how to how to deal with it when someone has interrupted you.
• 22:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I have the same thing like I had to it is it's a even if you have them trained to not interrupt you.
• 22:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it can still be a visual distraction and make you go, what is going on?
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So like I had to set my desk so that I could not see the door because my husband would come to the door and I, you know, I had a thing on the desk that said I was writing, but he, he would come to the door and you'd see this slowly in and hearing as he was trying to see what it said and then slowly back out in my and by that point I've already noticed him.
• 22:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's such like a car too, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such like a car too, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such a cool, it's such
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I also want to mention really fast reading glasses, because this is a thing that will creep up on people.
• 23:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you find yourself identified everything else and you get drowsy when you sit down while you are writing, there is a fair chance that you're having eye fatigue.
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I was having this thing where I would literally fall asleep while I was narrating, actively speaking, because, uh, because of the I fatigue and, like, you can solve that with, uh, reading glasses that you can pick up at the grocery store, yes, yeah.
• 23:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
• 23:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so with all of that, I have a little bit of homework for you, which is I would like you to use your senses and make a list of all the things you experience in your writing environment.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sound, smell, texture, weight, making inventory of your body's physical experience of your writing space.
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then, once you've made that list, consider what serves you and what is a barrier.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: This has been writing excuses.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're out of excuses?
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now go right.
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Writing excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends.
• 24:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your hosts for this episode were a Mary Robinette Cole, Dom on Song, and Aaron Roberts.
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: This episode was engineered by Marshall Car Jr., mastered by Alex Jackson, and produced by Emma Reynolds.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: For more information, visit writing excuses.com.