Once, there was a great writer.

Wait. I mean, he would have been a great writer, but just as he sat down at his computer and was about to write a magnificent work of staggering genius, he had to check email.

Then he had to surf the net to get the latest on Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen; review the the weather in Cairo, Berlin and Madagascar (for no particular reason); watch Iron Chef; pet the cat; make a sandwich; run a load of laundry; and re-check email because he imagined he heard a bing.

Sadly, he never got around to writing one word of his literary masterpiece. The world was deprived of his art and he never fulfilled his dream of being the next Hemingway. Of course, if not for all these apparently pressing matters getting in the way, he would have been a great writer… a truly great writer.

Distraction is the enemy of the writer.

In fact, distraction is the pervasive and insidious enemy of most arts and activities that require focus and concentration. A writer, poet, painter, web designer, or [insert your particular meaningful activity here] can be felled by distraction. Even professionals are not immune. But I will go so far as saying that if writers do not get control of their distractions and manage them, they will not get very far. How do writers fight such a tricky and subtle enemy? If you don’t have to check your email or wash your cat, read on.

The first thing to do in fighting distraction is to take a page from Twelve Step Programs and articulate the problem. Sounds simple, right? But it really is the first step. If an artist doesn’t know what’s getting in the way of productivity and stopping them from completing projects, then why change anything? Thus, if distraction is the enemy… name it.

Next, diagnose in detail what’s really going on with the distractions. Get specific. For instance, do you get distracted in the mornings? Do you check email fifty-six times a day… or every time you hear a bing? Or is it the environment of your house, where there are so many fun or necessary things to do, that is drawing you away from your writing or art? Make a list of these things and take a good look at it.

Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections and most recently, Freedom, has some interesting methods for fighting distraction. He works in a rented office space that is devoid of anything but a desk chair and lamp. Franzen has a modified laptop he stripped of wireless capability and all distracting programs. (Yes, that includes Solitaire.) He has even glued the laptop’s wireless connection ports shut. Extreme? Not for Franzen. He once said, “It’s doubtful that anyone with an Internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.” Maybe he has a point.

While you might not need to take intervention in your own life as extreme as Franzen’s, if distraction gets in the way of your creative work, acknowledge it, diagnose the specific things that take you away from your work, and come up with a plan (as extreme as you need) to minimize distraction.

Now if Lindsay and Charlie can just behave themselves, I might get some work done.