The Writing Distraction Symposium

With a show of hands, how many of you writers get distracted while writing? Okay, you out there that don’t live in a mansion or have a west wing, or a study, and don’t go into seclusion, again with a show of hands, how many get distracted? A lot more hands up this time. Perhaps we should list the types of distractions.

1)      Phone calls.

2)      Kids (fighting, screaming, hungry, wanting something, just have to say something, upset, unhappy, fixing their bike, a changing of a diaper, complaining about their brother or sister, etc.)

3)      A knock on the door or the doorbell.

4)      An appointment.

5)      Flood.

6)      Hunger.

7)      The bathroom.

8)      Computer popup messages.

9)      Meteor.

10)   Household chores.

11)   Loss of power.

12)   Spouse.

13)   Fire alarm.

14)   Sleepy.

15)   Thirsty.

16)   Black hole.

17)   Earthquake.

I understand that some of these distractions will occur rarely while others, more often. The point is what do you do. It is obvious that you have to deal with them in one way or the other. How you deal with them can be crucial in how quickly you get back to writing. For example, if children are fighting, and you need to get involved to settle the dispute, can you return to your writing? Can you pick up where you have left off? Depending upon how bad the dispute was, the answer could be yes or no. It can take a few moments to re-collect your thoughts on what you were writing. I know a couple of times that when I was distracted, I lost the train of thought completely.

It can be challenging to carve out time to write. First, examine your routine and put aside those quiet times where distractions are minimized. As you begin to write on a regular basis, you will discover the times when your creativity is at its best. It could be early in the morning, mid-morning, afternoon, late afternoon, evening, or late evening. You will also find that the optimum times may not always be your best. Those optimum times will reveal themselves to you as to continue to experiment with writing at different times of the day. For example, when I worked in the corporate world, I performed my best starting early in the morning until mid-afternoon. I figured with writing it would be the same. Not so. I could work, problem solving, reading, etc, but the creativity portion was not there in strength. To my surprise, later in the evening, words flowed easier.

Of course, you will get those times, when the words flow like water. Take advantage of those times.

Keep smiling.