I am fortunate to have a lot of work on my plate at the moment,  but the downside of juggling several projects is that it is too easy for my work routine to fall into chaos.  When this happens I invariably catch myself on Twitter, Facebook or any number of other sites and blogs that are guilty of draining my time when I lose concentration or motivation. 

It's a pitfall that is common to most people, especially freelancers who do not have a boss checking up on them periodically, and those of us who work online are particularly guilt, as hours can be lost with just a few clicks of the mouse. 

If you are guilty of becoming distracted while you are supposed to be writing, here are some ways to decrease temptation and keep you on track:

1. Log out!  You are far less likely to keep checking your email, Facebook or Twitter accounts if you have to enter your log in details each time.  Log out, and close the page.
2. Go old school and leave your computer completely to avoid online time sinks.  Pen and paper work just as well now as they did a hundred years ago.  Go find out.
3. Switch off your phone,  or at least set it to silent.  I inform my clients that I like to give my full concentration to my writing, and ask that they leave a message for me to return their call.  Allocating a specific time each day when you can be contacted by phone will also cut down on interruptions.
4. If you find yourself continuously wondering where the time went, try keeping a work log.  Jot down whenever you get something done, or change what you are working on. Record the time you made each note and at the end of the day you should have a rough idea of what you got up to.  If you find big gaps in your time, ask yourself what you were doing, and try to pinpoint specific black holes that suck up your time.
5. If you just can't resist the temptation of other programs, then perhaps switching to a word processor instead of a PC or fully featured laptop might help.  Machines such as the NEO are designed for a single purpose - writing.  They have no internet connection, no fancy programs but allow you to type quickly and comfortably.  Another advantage is that they are more portable than a laptop, letting you work in any quiet space you choose.
6. Get rid of the background 'noise' of  other programs running in the background of your PC by using software such as Dark Room (Windows) or WriteRoom (Mac). This software gives you a Matrix like black screen with green writing to type in with no tools such as Spell Check, Thesaurus or formatting to distract you.  (Remember those DOS word processing computers of olde?)  Get the 'meat' of your writing done quickly and simply, and then switch to Word or Google Docs to fine tune.