Your Best Writing Practices Have 0 Chance Against Your Mum’s Nag Bombs. What Now?

Get real

Most writing advice doesn’t work.

• Write at 5 in the morning,
• Get it done before the start of the workday because we have a fresh mind,
• This is my personal [ignored] favorite — Just type, and words find their way into your article.

And here’s why.

Mum and me

I stayed with Mum last week for 5 days. None of these days were kind to me. For sales. For writing.

Writing, especially.

You see, Mum is up by 4 in the morning. At 5, she is already as alert as a hungry fox, ready to pounce. Me? I would walk with my eyes shut and my face covered by a collapsed beanie.

I just got up.

Vulnerable AF.

Try as I might to get into my usual typing groove, I can’t. Mum’s nagging proved too powerful to overcome.

I am the Polish soldier standing guard at Warsaw in World War II.

Mum? The German tanker.

“Don’t just sit there, fool. Come help me with the clothes.”

“I spilled something here. Be careful. Mop the floor later.”

“Since you are here, can you wash the toilet and clear the cobwebs?”

Right.

I know what you are thinking.

That I don’t have to do it now. That I can write first. That I can push my mum aside, and all these can wait.

You are right. But the psychological ‘harm’ cannot be undone.

I cannot stop thinking about the to-do list breathed down my neck.

I would be writing while wondering…

Cobwebs? Spiders? Here? Like, where? What the f?

And my will to write [or type] gets tossed out of the window.

Mum’s nagging penetrated my beanie and infiltrated my writing mind. I got poisoned. My mind stopped turning.

So much for the best time to write at 5 am.

The advice you give tells me about you more than anything else

I am actively decoding you while reading your writing advice.

What is your profile in life like?

Are you relatable?

If not, well, I am [probably] not going to listen.

Because I don’t think writing is only about writing. If only.

Focus and productivity are irrelevant without consideration for,

• Distractions
• Emotions

Distractions happen [all the time], no matter how ready you think you are. 1 in the afternoon, 5, or 8 in the evening.

What distractions trigger your immediate response and lead you away from your laptop?

Well, only you know.

The sea of emotions crashing within us

Be honest.

When was the last time,

• A bad day destroyed your mojo to write?
• A last-minute assignment in the office robbed you of your keyboard intimacy time?
• Waking up feeling fully rested yet fatigued and [surprise!] your words are inconsistent and incoherent?

Welcome to the real world.

This is a place where writers struggle with,

• Motivation,
• Volatile emotions,
• Multiple sources of annoyance,
• An inspiration drought,
• Time limitations.

Our emotions — specifically how we feel when we write — are the near-second creative productivity killer… behind distractions of all sorts.

We need to mute them.

How to?

Heh heh. I am about to tell ya.

I write when I can, where I am, outside.

I cover 40+ kilometers on wheels on a workday.

I stay at the central. I may be at a client’s office in the remote west in the morning, followed by the far northwest by noon, and ending the day in the east.

Such days work best for my writing.

Here’s why.

I am not distracted by the house.

And I can observe other people.

The best stories come from people. And I don’t mean you, per se. If you write about self-improvement, maybe. But even that requires you to understand how others do things better so you can have a one-up.

You cannot expect to carve a different piece of art while thinking about the same thing and having Mum distract you for the same tasks at the same time each time.

Novelty is triggered, not assumed.

Creativity is inspired, not worked out.

That is why I swear by the outside world.

I interact, converse, ask why and why not, and allow the conversation to take my writer’s mind wherever it wants. It works spectacularly. I can get up to 3 writing topics on money, investments, and retirement.

And then, there is the location hop.

I write at multiple locations because I am routinely on the move.

Here’s a list of classic places writers go to write.

• Cafes,
• Libraries,
• Fast food restaurants.

They don’t work for me. They are too [darn] quiet. Too boring. My stuck writer’s mind stays in hibernation.

I need stimulus.

I need to watch people moving around doing something to bring out my innate curiosity.

The strangest places that worked well for me [for writing] are,

• Departure lounge in the airport,
• While commuting,
• Hospital canteens,
• Dyson showroom,
• Bowling centers,
• Waiting points,
• Repair centers,
• Stadium track,
• Evening pubs,
• Ferris wheel,
• Taxi stands,
• Ski school.

Once, I was waiting for a prospect near a Dyson showroom. It was crowded. It was deafening.

The showroom attendant was walking, sucking, pitching, demonstrating, interacting, and dissecting the thing. Amazing. Sometimes, he talks. Sometimes, the machine talks.

And that got me thinking about writing.

I don’t need to fill the article with a wall of text. Learn to write less. Pause.

It is not about selling the vacuum stick [or my article]. It is about resonance. If the reader can relate, he [or she] will vibrate with my words.

And then, there are bowling centers. That is the place to capture various emotions within an hour.

I would open my laptop, look up, and hear screams of strike! with a happy face, and the next moment, from the same lane, the same guy tossed the ball into the ditch, landing a big fat 0.

• 5 minutes ago, he was on a moonshot.
• 5 minutes later, he crashed back to Earth.

I like that.

Such environments work very well for me.

I get to imagine what life is like for these people.

Why are they so excited about throwing a ball? A strike. So? Wow, this gal returned from the dead with 4 strikes in a row. Gosh.

I will capture what I see for as long as I can… until I make a move.

Un-stuck yourself

Get away from your desk.

Or your apartment even.

Get away from Mum.

Go somewhere you have never been for writing. Grab a cup of black. Open your laptop. Capture ideas. Write.

It is an underrated writing experience.

And please.

You can do this during working hours. Or when you feel like it.

My colleague who tries writing [consistently] fails to overcome his lovely dog at 5 in the evening. Daily.

We have different life demands. Don’t blindly follow best writing practices.

Top writers don’t know what your life is like.

You do.

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Oh, oh, you can buy me a cup of black too! Thank you!