I'm always looking for new ways to eliminate distractions while writing. Recently, in an attempt to eliminate visual distractions, I tried writing with my eyes closed. I found that by having my eyes closed, it was easier to visualize the environment of my scene and concentrate on telling the story, rather than watching the words show up on the page.

Unfortunately, I tried this while standing at my desk. I didn't realize that every time I shifted my weight, the give of the chef's mat under my feet would throw off my sense of balance. It was unsettling enough that I haven't written with my eyes closed since then.

That's when I decided to try fading out the paper while in Scrivener's Composition Mode.

Without the stark contrast between the white paper and the black text, I focused less on the words as they appeared and more on imagining the story. Plus, because I'd set the Composition Mode background to an image related to my story, having the paper transparent made me feel as if I were in the setting with my characters. This particularly helped me when writing the details of the environment.

This technique is now my default writing mode. It's working really well for both putting me in the mood for the story and for keeping me writing without stopping to correct misspelled words.

What do you think? Is this something that will work for you?