EPISODE 78: CAN’T FOCUS ON WRITING? HOW TO STOP DOOMSCROLLING AND GET BACK TO YOUR NOVEL WHEN THE WORLD AROUND YOU FEELS LOUD
Can’t focus on writing because you keep picking up your phone, checking one thing and suddenly finding yourself twenty or thirty minutes deep into social media, world events, commentary or the endless scroll?
Maybe you genuinely care about what’s happening. Maybe you tell yourself you’re simply staying informed. But by the time you finally put your phone down, you feel worried, angry, agitated or mentally scattered, and the fictional world you were about to step into suddenly feels much further away.
So how do you stay connected to what matters without giving the noise of the wider world unlimited access to your attention? And when doomscrolling has already pulled you out of your writing headspace, how do you actually get back to your novel?
In this episode of Write The Darn Book™, I’m sharing my own recent experience with this, including the contrast I noticed after spending several months largely away from social media, and why I’ve become much more conscious of what all that scrolling is actually doing to my attention and creative state.
We’ll look at the difference between meaningful action and endless consumption, how to separate what you can influence from what you cannot control, and the simple three-step strategy you can use when you realise your phone has taken you somewhere you never intended to go: put it down, come back to the room, come back to the story.
INSIDE THIS EPISODE
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Why “I’ll just quickly check something” can turn into a pattern that quietly takes you much further away from your writing than you intended
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How to separate what you can influence from what you cannot control, and recognise the difference between meaningful action and compulsive consumption
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How to protect your writing attention, reset after doomscrolling and use Put It Down → Come Back to the Room → Come Back to the Story to find your way back into the manuscript
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Why different Dove, Owl, Peacock and Eagle Writing Personality tendencies can affect both what pulls you into the scroll and what helps you return
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Why caring deeply about what is happening in the world does not require giving technology, social media or the news unlimited access to your time, energy and attention
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How to narrow your focus from everything happening everywhere to one character, one scene and the next sentence in front of you
FIND OUT YOUR WRITING PERSONALITY
What pulls your attention away from the page, and what helps you return, can look different depending on how you’re naturally wired to write.
Find out your unique Writing Personality by taking my free Writing Personality Quiz at maddisonmichaels.com/quiz.
NEW BOOK: UNLOCK YOUR WRITING PERSONALITY
My new book, Unlock Your Writing Personality, is now available to pre-order on Amazon and will be released on 12 January 2027.
The book takes you much deeper into the Writing Personalities and how your natural wiring can shape the way you create, experience resistance, approach your writing process and find your way back to the page.
Pre-order on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJN1QHG6
LISTEN NEXT
Episode 36: Why Your Phone Is the Real Reason You Can’t Sit Down to Write (And How to Take Your Focus Back)
If today’s episode helped you recognise how quickly a “quick check” can pull you away from your manuscript, Episode 36 takes a closer look at the broader pull your phone can have on your writing focus and what you can do to protect your attention at the page.
You are the vessel for your story. Let the words flow through you and onto the page.
