Everyone loves being an author. Talented authors relish the process from the first twinkle of an idea to thinking about characters to plopping them into impossible situations. Or for the nonfiction author, the challenge of imparting knowledge that will help others is fulfilling. When I was writing books for publication, time dissolved as I typed away.
Despite my joy in writing, some afternoons dragged as I struggled with getting characters from Point A to Point B; or my plot didn’t work as well on paper as it did when I was musing about it earlier; or … fill in your struggle.
IMMEDIATE DISTRACTIONS to the rescue!
- Search for recipes for dinner. Dinnertime will be here shortly!
- Answer emails.
- Research a thingie that may have something to do with your book.
- Call a friend. You don’t want to lose touch!
- Watch TV. Surely tuning in to the History Channel isn’t considered not working.
- Drink coffee. Gotta stay awake!
- In the act of total desperation, clean house.
Immediate distractions are part of life. I drink coffee myself. To be writers, the key is this: We MUST return to our work as soon as our little break has passed.
The beauty of immediate distractions is that they run their natural course. Even if you procrastinate in all seven ways above, losing all your writing time would be unlikely.
But then … so the coffee is gone and you answered all your emails. Still not feeling the love on that book? Next week I’ll discuss an even more dangerous impediment to your career – and what you can do about it.
Your turn:
How do you deal with immediate distractions?
Does procrastinating help you? How?
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Thanks for this post, Tamela. There are so many distractions around us when we want to write. I find sometimes taking a little getaway for a writer’s retreat helps me focus. If I can’t get away, I go to a coffee shop with my earbuds and write! Away from all the distractions at home!
All of you have brought me much happiness and many smiles today as I read over the comments. Thank you all so much for being here, sharing, and showing genuine care about each other and our industry.
Thank you for being YOU, Tamela.
I hope that you know how much you are appreciated, admired, and loved.
Tamela, I’m seconding what Andrew just said. Of course he didn’t realize that is how most of us feel about both you and Andrew.
Quite a feat, Judith. No, I didn’t realise, and you’ve got me in tears.
I love our writing community so much! I’ve met such genuinely warm and friendly people with every conference I attend. Thanks to you and other agents in this industry for being so welcoming and understanding as we maneuver this complicated publishing journey. Your insight is much appreciated.
hahahahaha I got a chuckle.
and out of everyone’s comments!
1. coffee is a distraction? Sacrilege!
2. laundry oooh I have 5 loads to do and hang on the line before the sun goes down
3. oooh nooo I didn’t finish all my laundry because of social media so now I have to set up my drying line inside (these things take longer so…)
4. We need to pick those apples for a turnover recipe because otherwise they’ll get wormy or sumptin (did this yesterday)
5. BBQ? Again? Let me peel carrots, chunk the onions, pick fresh lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage to go on top, healthily figure out how much protein, cals, fats to put into, hmm, which dutch oven should I use? Where’s the Thunder Chicken? Brown chicken… got the olive oil, carrots caaaaarefullllly sliced taking me what an hour++? to prep a 30-minute bake?
6. Make the apple filling and turnovers.
7. Dried basil needs to be crushed.
8. Check social media. Again.
9. Make SURE to answer Tamela Hancock and look. It’s 11:30 PM.
10. Well, I AM tired. Better go to bed early!
*yes… I did that. And yes, it’s 11:30 PM
Yes to all of the distractions you mentioned. Then, add my duties for the organizations I work with, projects I want to do, classes, and calls from other people… still working on this years into writing 🙂 I say it’s always a process and a journey.
-A little late to the party. Too many distractions at our house: company over the weekend and such.
Anyway, I enjoyed this post. Lately life has thrown so many distractions that my writing has taken a back seat for a while. And that’s okay. I plan on getting back to it soon.
Andrew, your poem about hearing loss is so appropriate. (Been there,done that.) In fact, I wrote a blog post about hearing loss, and ended it with the following lines. “Laughter truly is a great medicine. Either that or ‘After grueling fizz you hate Edison.’ At least that’s what I heard.”
The first thing i have to do is call it what it is—a distraction bordering on procrastination. Lol
Then when I do that I set a time limit. 15, 30 or so minutes to do X thing then back to work. Because time gets away from us so quickly. I have to be very intentional with my time to write as a full time working wife and mom.
Procrastination?? I will definitely work on that! Tomorrow…