A Minimalist Writing Setup for Distraction-Free Productivity

My first novel was written on an old kitchen table in my childhood bedroom on a HP laptop in MS Word.

I had a bunk-bed back then (shared a room with my brother) and I set the table up at the end of the bed in the back corner of the room.

To get more privacy and less distractions, I hung a blanket from the end of the top bunk across to the opposite wall. I was only 15 or so when I started writing this way — and I decided nails and duct tape were the best way to fasten this down. Mom wasn’t too happy about the blanket and dad wasn’t thrilled about the nails in the wall, but it worked for me.

It’s how I got through the first couple hundred thousand words I’ve ever written.

These days, I do my second/third/fourth draft revisions in Scrivener with the screen set to writing mode — it blocks out anything but the page you are working on. It works.

But the image above is my magical first draft writing desk — the simplest and most minimalist writing setup I’ve had to date. As a now 31 year old father and full time business owner, I needed to find a way to optimize for productivity.

In ten years, it’s definitely been what has made me most productive. Some might find this hard to believe considering I’m typing on a manual 1950’s Royal Arrow typewriter. But it’s true.

What works for me may not be what works best for you, but humor me while I explain my set up and daily habits in case they help.

K.I.S.S.

We all know this acronym. It works. I use a simple writing tool and set a simple goal — one page each day. The cool part is, there’s no excuse for not writing one page. Even if I was up early and it gets to be midnight, I can sit and write it. On the good days where I have more time and creativity than I know what to do with, this little and simple goal often turns into 20, 30 or 40+ new pages being written.

Sometimes we have to trick ourselves psychologically into doing what we want or need to be doing. This little trick is priceless.

Now, on to the setup.

As you can see, I have my typewriter centered, two piles of paper with paper weights to the left and right of it, and three books on my desk.

In my field of view is the closet doors in the room I work and write in. Not much to distract me visually and this really helps keep my mind on the stories I’m writing and the characters I’m creating. I should note that I only use this setup for writing fiction.

The pile of paper to the left is blank. This is my ammunition. They’re loaded up one at a time like a sniper would load a cartridge into his rifle. It’s a repetitive and manual process that almost feels ceremonial in nature — like taking part in a ritual that has been passed down through the generations from writers before me.

The sound of the tombstone keys striking the metal type bars onto paper over 1950’s platen is very satisfying. The clicking of the roller knob as you set your new page in its place and the Ding! of the margin bell when you reach the end of a line, along with the metallic slide of the carriage return all make for an enjoyable and unique auditory writing experience. It adds a unique sensory element to the writing process that I really enjoy, albeit mostly subconsciously.

Slowing down to write in this manner has increased my productivity on the whole. Personally, I believe it’s due to the fact that I can only dedicate my time, space and mind to the task before me while sitting at this writing desk with my typewriter.

It’s pure. It’s also fun.

The papers on the right are completed type-written pages.

The three books are The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Negative Trait Thesaurus and The Positive Trait Thesaurus, both by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

That’s it.

My paper, my typewriter, and three books to help me keep my writing in line and round out my characters. It’s actually more than enough to get the job done and makes writing fiction a very enjoyable experience.

If you’ve been struggling to find or keep your muse — give something like this a try. I found the typewriter at a local thrift shop that specializes in antiques. They wanted $75 and I paid $50 cash for it. More than seventy years after it rolled off the production line and not a single thing wrong with it.

I took it home, set it up, and I’ve been in the writing groove ever since.