The Writing Habit

Whilst browsing the nethernet today I was introduced by Bryan Richmond to an article in Locus Magazine on Cory Doctorow's techniques for managing/avoiding distraction whilst writing in the web age, full article here.

To borrow Brandon Seifert's summary of the article, Doctorow's techniques look like this:

1. Make a short, regular work schedule. He shoots for one page, 20 minutes of writing a day, seven days a week. When he does a page a day for a year. he's written more than a full novel. And he can always find 20 minutes.
2. Don't go over your goal. Even if you want to. Because if you force yourself not to, then the next day you'll be dying to pick it up again (I've received this advice before).
3. Don't stop writing to research something. Throw in a "TK" ("to come") in its place and leave it for later
4. Don't try to control your writing environment. Just write.
5. Don't use a word-processor. Use a text editor. It's less distracting.
6. Don't use real-time communication tools while you write. They just distract you.

They are for the most part common sense, but things you likely don't do. Personally I'm going to try and adapt the parts that would be advantageous to me, particularly the page a day idea - my writing production is all over the place at present. However, some of the advice I'd struggle with because no matter how ingrained it became, letting a juicy idea wait until the nexy day or not writing a passage that's perfectly clear in my head would be next to impossible for me. I'd HAVE to write it down. On the flip side, perhaps that's a part of my problem.