

In most cases–outside of political speeches and anything related to dating–that’s the whole purpose of writing in the first place. It’s also why Focus mode is so helpful.įocus mode forces you to concentrate, which increases the odds that you’re going to say what you mean, clearly.
OFFICE FOR MAC 2016 HACK HOW TO
It’s about how to force yourself to perform the awful task of stringing words together. Much of the best writing advice, including Lamott’s guide, is not about style or grammar. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much.” Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. “And not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money,” says Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird, her celebrated 1995 book on the craft. Does he procrastinate, as I do, by cleaning his house and eating Klondike bars?) (I wouldn’t be surprised if Buffett hates sitting down to compose his annual letter to shareholders. I hate these facts as much as anyone, and I’ve been working as an advertising copywriter for eight years now. It’s about how to force yourself to perform the awful task of stringing words together.Īlso, first drafts tend to suck. Most projects, at least in the initial stages, aren’t collaborative. Given the choice, there are times when most of us–even skilled writers who love what we do–would prefer to do anything other than write. Forcing Yourself To ConcentrateĪfter all, one the biggest obstacles to getting any piece of writing done, whether it’s a book or a one-sentence tagline, is distraction.

And with Focus mode, you don’t need any of those other apps to keep distractions at bay–this one-click feature is all it takes. But the fact is that Word remains a widely popular writing tool for solo work, it’s even the first choice of millennials, who then switch over to Google Docs for more collaborative stuff. In a world awash in productivity apps, time trackers, browser extensions, and other digital tools for blocking out distractions, Microsoft Word’s Focus mode seems quaint, resolutely uncool, even superfluous.
