How do you keep writing when you're overwhelmed by the news?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding it even more difficult than usual to get my writing done these days.

Typically, my habit of drinking from the spigot of online news—and I use the word “habit” charitably here—turns into gulps at the smallest political convulsion. But it’s during truly momentous times, when events like the Kavanaugh hearings, January 6th and pretty much the entire Trump administration, take over the entire media landscape, that I become a true compulsive.

I walk away from the computer oversaturated by the news…but still wanting more. I do this despite the fact I know it leaves me anxious and probably impacts my mental health.

It also challenges my ability to write—to focus on producing this Substack, for instance, or a book project I’m circling around.

Take last week, as I went about starting the last TBIWTW post about “the future of literary magazines.” The idea (along with the first few rough paragraphs) was sparked the same day news broke that Gettysburg College would shutter the famed Gettysburg Review after 35 years.

Two days later, on a Friday, I was on a Zoom with an expert on literary magazines whose quotes I’ve read in CNN stories for the past couple of years. So far so good.

But twenty-four hours after that I was stuck.

What had been a sad but timely literary development was suddenly pushed to the background by the horrific news of the Hamas terror attack and ensuing Gaza airstrikes.

In other words, the news had gone from manageable to overwhelming overnight. And each time I sat down to try and finish up my essay, I found myself instead with several browser windows open and almost none of my writing completed.

(I should add here that I write these posts mostly on the Substack interface—which, like other cloud-based apps, requires an Internet connection. The reason for drafting right in Substack vs, say, Word might make a good future post, but for now I’ll say I do this because 1) it gives me the feeling of actually producing a post, rather than a feeling of drafting something I know I’ll have to copy and paste later; and 2) there are some features—for example, tagging writers and newsletters—that can only happen in the interface).

Eventually I managed to finish and send out the post, but not before I forced myself to use a few techniques I’ve developed over the years to minimize distractions and finish work.

If you’ve also found the firehose of news has overwhelmed your ability to concentrate on writing, you may find these and similar tools useful too.

Turn off the news—by using a blocker

Of course, this one seems obvious. If you’re glued to the news and not writing, then surely the answer would be to step away from the news. But with the sort of Internet dependency I’m describing here, that’s so much easier said than done.

As Nicholas Carr wrote in The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains:

It’s not just that we tend to use the net regularly, even obsessively. It’s that the net delivers precisely the kind of sensory and cognitive stimuli—repetitive, intensive, interactive, addictive—that have been shown to result in strong and rapid alterations in brain circuits and functions.

Given that I’ve long known that the Internet has the power to easily distract me, I’m a big fan of apps that block Internet access. At first, my brain misses the dopamine hit, but after awhile the world I’m creating through words expands, the desire to escape writing subsides—and I get work done.

Not all Internet blockers are created equal, however. In the past I’ve used Stay Focusd, an app that runs right in your Chrome browser as an extension. I used to like this extension a lot because I could limit my time on distracting websites—say, 10 minutes on Twitter/X—after which I’d be blocked.

StayFocusd: Do we really need more “Nuclear Options” in the world?

But the problem is that some apps like StayFocusd are rather like blunt instruments, sometimes blocking necessary websites along with distracting ones. That’s great if you’re composing offline, but less so for things like Substack posts.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been leaning on Freedom. I find the interface easy to navigate and highly customizable. For example, it allows me to group websites—blocking individual social media sites (like Twitter/X) or news sites—but leaving access to other parts of the Internet I need for research or linking while composing on Substack.

I opted to renew my annual subscription, which with an easily-acquired discount coupon came to $29, or under $2.50/month.

Over

Wonder Tools

, the director of Teaching & Learning at CUNY's Grad School,

Jeremy Caplan

, has an incredible roundup of tools “to beat distractions.”

Timed writing sessions like “Pomodoros”

When I’m at my most distracted, I find external constraints like timed writing sessions work best for me.

My favorite is the “Pomodoro Technique,” created by Francesco Cirillo back in the late 1980s. Somewhat randomly, Cirillo named his method after the Italian word for tomato because of the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used.

The original Pomodoro timer

The idea is simple: timed writing sprints (or “Pomodoros”) of 25 minutes, with a 5 minute break in-between. I sometimes skip the break, but you shouldn’t. The idea is really to rest and reset in between.

I love the Pomodoro Timer Pro app on my phone, but any timer with a buzzer or ringer will do.

Originally Cirillo recommended 4 sessions (or 2 hours) in a row, but personally I find I do my best work with 2 or 3 of them.

Both

Steven Johnson

at

Adjacent Possible

and

Katie Hawkins-Gaar

at

My Sweet Dumb Brain

have good posts with more information about Pomodoro and other timed techniques—Katie’s here and Steven’s here—if you’re curious to read more.

The Practice and Power of Deadlines

Finally, I’ve found the practice of committing to a weekly newsletter has transformed my relationship to writing deadlines—something that has transcended even my compulsive use of the Internet at times like right now when the news is overwhelming.

While I originally started this newsletter over the summer, I envisioned it as a way to promote both my coaching for writers and The Book I Had to Write podcast.

But having announced a newsletter and publicly committed to a publication schedule has created enough of a sense of internal obligation that it counteracts my tendency to want to distract myself from writing.

Then there’s the unique nature of Substack itself—a platform that makes writing and delivering newsletter a nearly seamless experience, and whose interface reminds in various ways that there’s an audience waiting for your words.

When I’ve found myself distracted these last two weeks, I’ve reminded myself that writing this newsletter is a deadline I want to adhere to—it’s the sort of deadline I enjoy. Maybe it’s a mindtrick, but simply affirming that choice seems to minimize—at least temporarily—the temptation of distraction.

Have you been overwhelmed by the news? Has it impacted your writing? Have you found something that helps? I’m super curious—tell me about it below in the comments.

P.S. - Internet Blocker/Accountability Update

Below, reader

Mark Sarvas

recommends Toggl, a time tracker app that also has a Pomodoro timer built in, while

Elizabeth Bobrick

recommends Break Timer, a Chrome browser extension.