Is there a way to stop yourself from zoning out from a thing you're doing?

[JoshRaed]

I recently set a 30 minute time block to write during, and somehow it's like I blinked and was 15 minutes in with barely ten words written. I don't know what I was doing during those 15 minutes, they just sort of passed.

[PrettiMidnight]

Ice water or an energizing tea and a snack helps me focus better

[JoshRaed]

Cool. I'll try that.

[ThunderChicken]

I have the opposite problem. I have to zone out in order to write. If I see a squirrel or suffer any other distractions I won't stand a chance. I need my husband to be working, some 80's metal on the stereo, and a good few hours of free time before I can even think about writing.

I even made a graphic up showing my creative process. The red one is how I imagine normal people writing. Green is all me.

And yes, I made this when I should have been writing instead. I saw a squirrel.

[Insanebaker92]

Do not think of anything. Focus on your achievements. When you do something, you’re trying to get things done so that you will be rewarded in the end of all the effort you put in.

Tell yourself too that your fans of your comic is waiting for your chapters and you need to get it done for their sake.

[JoshRaed]

I used to schedule the comic before I'd drawn it so I'd have to draw it, and just published what I'd drawn.

[Legendofgenii]

@ThunderChicken Same.

I find listening to instrumental music (sometimes on repeat), helps me to stay focused.

I have to be cozy, and have a drink and snacks with me, and once I get into the zone I will loose all track of time.

[DarkSena]

I think from time to time we all kinda space out. It happens often to be when I'm brainstorming the oder of panels or smth like that that I just stare blankly in the space without any thoughts at all, but that's complete fine, it's all going back to you, just focus back on your story

[GodbreakerComic]

I have ADHD so I flip between no matter how hard I try I can't focus and ALL I CAN DO IS FOCUS. I'll either work on my comic for 15 minutes and give up, or work on it feverishly for like 4 hours straight, forgetting to eat/drink.

Can I decide which one? Of course not. There's a little guy who decides that and he's a jerk.

[Umber]

Sometimes I put a song I really like on repeat. It doesn't work all the time but when it does it's pretty effective.
(I'd suggest Hopes and Dreams by Toby Fox :D)

[RedLenai]

• Put a timer
• Besides putting a timer put background music
• Put the most annoying, hateful, disgusting and unpleasant alarm. You're only allowed to deactivate it before it starts if you actually wrote something
• Put a reward and punishment, If you don't write you won't access the internet, nor do other things you enjoy for the rest of the day. If you write you get to do those things.
• Use something to stimulate the need to write, like Stimuwrite
• Put realistic goals, like writing 200 words, and instead of writing for 30 minutes for 15.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Uhhh ... caffeine I find my focus positively correlates to days where I drink coffee or tea (it often takes a while to kick in though, so I'd often find myself going in to flow late at night and working for a long time XD)

I don't partake very often though, so maybe my brain isn't desensitized to the effects

Put the most annoying, hateful, disgusting and unpleasant alarm. You're only allowed to deactivate it before it starts if you actually wrote something

Put realistic goals, like writing 200 words, and instead of writing for 30 minutes for 15.

Yeah, 30 minutes is hard mode; try 15, or even 10 And lmao I might try that alarm idea myself; I certainly seem to always wake up before my alarm, so it'll probably work for writing/drawing/etc too XD