Maintain Focus
Focus – that elusive quality our parents always demanded, yet never bothered to explain. It seems like everyone else possesses it effortlessly, except for oneself when it’s needed the most. Uncomfortable, isn’t it? Especially when you’re tasked with crafting a ten-thousand-word manuscript, and suddenly that stain on the wall becomes the most fascinating thing in the room.
Hello, Neophyte! Apologies if you spent the holidays in the broom closet, but I left you some schnapps, so I hope you at least passed out comfortably. Oh, your family? They’re just peachy. I told them you were at a writer’s retreat, and they bought it. Can you believe it?
Today, we’re tackling the issue of focus in writing. As mentioned earlier, it’s a tricky thing these days, something that took me quite a while to grasp. Despite the way everyone talks about it, focus doesn’t just naturally happen. It needs nurturing – it’s a resource, much like many other things. If you desire more details, there are others who have delved into this topic more extensively. Here, we’ll concentrate on the writing aspect.
Let’s walk through the steps. You have an idea for a story; you’re excited because you believe it’s good. You start some prewriting, get frustrated, and set it aside. Yet, the idea resurfaces repeatedly until, finally, after enough groundwork, you sit down and write. Perhaps you create an outline first, and the process repeats until you pen your first words.
It’s a marvelous sensation, feeling like a bird in flight. Words effortlessly flow from your mind through your fingertips onto the page as if it’s the most natural thing. You’re ecstatic, deeply in love with what you’re doing, feeling like you’ll never stop. The story is new and shiny, an obsession. You adore your characters and every move they make. You’re soaring so high above that the rest of humanity seems almost depressed for you.
This honeymoon period doesn’t last; its duration varies for each person. Inevitably, the magic breaks, and you find yourself adrift in the current of “why did I agree to this?” It’s an unhappy place to be, Neophyte, especially if you lack the experience or tools to deal with it.
There’s an erroneous idea that focus is a fixed thing, maintained over time, that it should remain unchanged and unaffected by our own lives. If somehow broken, we’re at fault for something. Well, let me tell you, that’s not the case. Focus is a resource of the mind, something that can be drained, used, or spoiled. It may sound like new age happy-trippy nonsense, but unfortunately, it’s true.
Fortunately, it’s something you can train yourself to be better at. Don’t believe me? Let’s take an example from outside the realm of writing, like the Shaolin monks. Don’t make that face; let me explain. Not one of those guys is a born master with a shaved head, in a robe, ready to participate in a kung fu movie. No, they are made. Sure, some pupils might have better dispositions for that life than others, but they are made. Which translate to hard work, discipline and repetition, along with a lot of meditation and training. Is something they become committed to for life, as far as I understand it, and they never break in their journey.
As it is for those monks, so it is true for writers. After the shimmering eyes you have at the beginning of your book fade, you’ll find yourself over a gigantic chasm over which you will have to build a bridge with your words. Words you’ll have to rewrite over and over again, effectively rebuilding the bridge sometimes from scratch. With a task worthy of Sisyphus is understandable to be demoralized so many just quit. Understandable as well since obsessing over the runes over the pages is only for a few who have the drive to come back to their work and pick up over what they left. Which is another aspect of Focus we often forget.
Life throws everyone curved balls, the secret of Focus is the ability to comeback to whatever task we left unfinished.
Few humans can maintain perfect focus for a long time, and to increase that time span, you have to practice, and you can only obtain it through dedication and coming back time and time again. Essentially, doing, failing, and doing again. Do not get disheartened by not reaching the height you set for yourself; more often than not, you place it too damn high and end up falling short. But by trying to reach it, you reach higher than you would have otherwise. That’s something that we often forget and must always keep in mind.
Anyway, back in the broom closet with you, Neophyte.
Until Next Time.
