Writing Without Distraction

OK writers, you’ve begun working in earnest. The story is alive, your cylinders are firing. You’re getting up every morning and putting in the hours.

But then, something happens. Life delivers a distraction, and your novel or memoir hangs in the balance.

You get a call that your friend needs help moving, or you get a speeding ticket and have to appear in court, or your husband starts a fight with you about not spending any time with him because all you do is “write that darn novel.”

This is the point where the writer often abandons ship. She rationalizes that she will just help her friend move and give up her novel writing for the day. She tells herself that she really should spend more time with her husband . . . and then she’ll return to her novel at a later time.

But it doesn’t work like that. This is a test that every writer must face.

What if you approached your work-in-progress the way you do eating and sleeping? Do it each day, even if sometimes only a little.

Don’t break the habit. And don’t buy into guilt.

This means that you may have to become like a Jedi master. You can acknowledge your husband’s feelings and give him a hug. You can tell your friend that you don’t have time to help her move, and then buy her a lovely house-warming gift . . . and keep writing your novel.

Stay out of the drama. Get your novel done no matter what.

Let me know your thoughts.