We have just discovered that George RR Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 running on a DOS machine to write his novels. For those of you born in the age of the internet, DOS is short for the archaic Disk Operating System, and Wordstar is a character-based "early word processor which used unique control-key sequences" and was popular during the early- to mid-80s (thank you, Wikipedia). It looks like this:

Martin explained his reasons on Conan O'Brien's US talk show:

"I have a secret weapon," he said. He has two computers: one to browse the internet, get his email and do his taxes, and then his "writing computer", which is a DOS machine not connected to the internet. "Remember DOS? I use Wordstar 4.0 as my word-processing system."

"I actually like it: It does everything I want a word-processing programme to do, and it doesn't do anything else," he explained. Martin said he doesn't want any help from machines when he's writing, and that spellcheck would have him yelling at the computer – not surprising for the man behind names such as Daenerys Targaryen or Tyrion Lannister. Then there's typography: "I hate some of these modern systems where you type a lower-case letter and it becomes a capital."

Can you blame him? The internet is a massive distraction for just about anyone trying to work, but it can prove especially challenging for writers and anyone who needs concentration for a creative process.

So, if you are a writer, have you had to resort to similar measures to isolate yourself from online chatter and mute the Internet? Or perhaps you have become so accustomed to distractions that you can't take the silence – there are even apps, like Coffitivity, that provide you with the noise of a busy coffee shop to "boost creativity".

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comment thread below.