I've never tried any smart drugs myself but have heard Tim Ferriss and Joe Rogan talking about them extensively.
Amazing that you're writing a novel! I can't wait to hear more about it. When I wrote Alarm Clock Dawn we owned a house that had an attic. I would try to wear myself out physically on a bike ride or on the NordicTrak then go up there and write for hours at a time. A dedicated space that I could be guaranteed would be free of interruptions was the key for me. The threat of interruption is the main enemy of our creativity and productivity as writers. It takes around twenty minutes, on average, to refocus once we're torn away. The frustration of that can feel like torture. True inspiration, especially in the realm of fiction, can be a fleeting thing sometimes and when it strikes it can be like lightning.
We live in a small condo ourselves now and if I have the slightest inkling that there's the possibility of an interruption I simply can't get into the zone. This is one of my biggest frustrations during this lockdown. It seems whenever the laptop opens it's like a beacon to the heavens and everybody (including pets) wants your attention.
I only have two chapters left to finish in my sequel to The Perfect Pause. I'm going to experiment with taking the laptop to a local park to get those done. Once lockdown is over I'm going to find a workspace to rent, that is really the only way when you don't have a dedicated workspace at home.
Best of luck to you! I hope you and the family are well!
@ericvancewalton,
Great comment ... everything you say is true. I too need seclusion to be creative and interaction with others, for whatever reason, knocks me out of the zone.
Working from home, I've discovered a simple, yet effective, solution ... a LOCKED door (not just closed, locked). I've explained to my daughter that I cannot think creatively unless I'm alone for protracted periods of time. And so, I go to the kitchen, make a plate of food and then disappear behind a locked bedroom door for 5-6 hours at a time. As there's a bathroom attached to the bedroom, all life's necessities are taken care of.
Unless there's a huge racket in other parts of the condo, whatever sounds I hear fade into the background. The inability to "coccoon oneself psychologically" is largely the result of our subconscious minds' maintaining a "readiness to react to relevant stimuli in our environment" When you hear cars passing on the street or a plane flying overhead, you don't expect to react (no relevance) and so you don't. When you hear a plate break in the next room, that's relevant, so you do.
But all this is a matter of your having created a "stimuli rule set" - a rule set which can easily be modified as rule sets are based upon nothing more than expectations. So ... change your expectations.
Tell yourself and everyone else that, short of a catastrophe (in which case scream), you will not be interacting with them until you "come out" in x number of hours. When you do, you'll deal with whatever has come up at that time. When I'm cocooned and my daughter (sitting in the living room) needs to get in touch with me, she texts me ... just as she'd do if I was at an outside office. For whatever reason, that "non-personal interruption" is far less distracting than if she knocked on the door and came into the room for a minute. It's more abstract and therefore less intrusive.
The locking of the door has no functional purpose (as it takes only a second to unlock), but it has a potent symbolic and psychological one. It creates an "impassable barrier" that, absent a conscious decision to dismantle, cannot be breached.
After a couple of days, all this becomes routine. "Hon, Daddy's going to get some work done." I even give her a kiss before I go, just as I would if I were leaving the house for an extended period of time. Being creatures of habit, we become habituated. Indeed, even if I'm alone in the house and therefore immune to distraction, I still lock the door. If I don't, it feels like something's out of place.
"Just going through the motions," matters.
Quill
Thanks @qullfire. A locked door would be WONDERFUL, kind of like a mental force-field. It sounds like you have an environment that's conducive to creativity. That's a goal of mine to, before the end of this year, find a sanctuary like that!