I've tried everything I can, other than blocking my browser (because I use it for background music), but I still get distracted horribly. I've been writing for seven hours, but I've only written 600 words. I have a good "words per minute" ratio, I just can't focus!

Have you tried word sprints with other Nano participants? I find those keep me on track and I get a lot more words written in a shorter amount of time.

Maybe a change of scenery, try writing at a library or Starbucks? Or look for write in's in your area. I got a lot written at the write in I went to, mostly because my laptop kept disconnecting from the internet and so I had literally nothing to do but write lol.

Sadly I have no form of transportation (not even the bus), and there aren't any public write-ins in my area, so write-ins are out, though I agree when I did them in high school I was way more productive. Also, I love sprints, the problem is they don't solve my actual distraction problems because I get distracted trying to find when the sprints are.

And, yes I'm that easily distracted. Yesterday I went to look up the name of a Korean dish and ended up maxing all my quests on here, helped a friend find a new job, watched a youtube video about an art program, installed said art program, and customized my computer's display settings... before remember why I had actually opened my browser in the first place.

Haha, yeah I've done that. Start off researching one specific thing and the next thing you know it's three hours later.

I just do sprints on my own or with my brother. I pick a start and end time (usually 10 to 15 min is all I can keep focused for) and then I try to write as many words as I can in that time frame. It holds you more accountable if you do it with another person, but it can be done alone as well.

What I find helps me is actually not focusing overly intently on my writing when I'm trying to write.

I tend to type out short little 80 to 100 word snippets, then do a quest or two, drink some water, then go back and write another snippet, etc. By the end of the day, I often have 3000 to 4000 words written, whereas if I put the blinders on and try to focus, I inevitably end up slacking off even more than when I'm writing distractedly.

There's also something called optimal arousal theory in psychology, and it states that in order for us to be able to focus on things, we have to have enough sensory input into our nervous systems to allow us to focus. So if trying to write with no distractions (save for music) isn't working, try adding a different background noise, or putting the TV on, or chewing gum, or adding another sort of sensory stimulus of some kind to your routine. Oftentimes that'll help keep the nervous, twitchy bits of your brain happy enough that your mind will finally allow you to focus. :)

Best of luck!

- I suffer form the same problem. If I get too distracted I turn my wifi off OTL Seems like that would be hard for you with the music though. Is it possible to download it? Or listen to the radio, or some other form of music? Do you have a second computer or mP3 player to play music with? I actually find I'm way less distracted if I have headphones in, even if I'm not listening to anything.

Sadly our WiFi is terrible (my brother tries to seriously game over it and makes it sputter), so trying to stream music on my phone makes it constantly pause and buffer :c. I have taken and 's advice, sorta mixing the two. I have set alarms for 10 sprints throughout the day, all being roughly 10-15 minutes (the last one of the day is 30 minutes). While I'm not writing, I'm either drawing, watching YouTube, or doing quests on Subeta. I've been averaging 2000 words a day now! Which may not seem like a lot, but seeing how I was barely making minimum before, I'm proud of the 2000.

Yay, 2,000 is awesome! That's always my goal each day because I'm weird and like nice round numbers

- That's great :) I need to up my word goal to 3000/day if I'm going to finish on time at this rate. I was supposed to catch up today, but haven't been very inspired.

Great job!! 2k a day is a great pace!

I'm glad the suggestions have been helpful for you.

Good luck with the rest of NaNo!