Me, Myself, and Isolation

For the past few weeks, there’s been a flurry of talk around me about being part of in-person and online writing groups. I’ve volunteered myself, been volunteered, and watched the planning stages grow with the requisite chatter and anticipation. I’m excited, I love talking about the craft and sharing my passion with other writers. There’s nothing like a community of like-minded people to motivate you and talk you down from the “something else” ledge when it seems like this writing thing isn’t going to work.

But then I think about myself and my Spartan writing habits. And I get anxious. Frankly, because very rarely can I write in a group setting or with other people.

I write in a tunnel. That’s the best way I can describe it. When I sit down at the keyboard, I eliminate all distractions and write with total focus on my screen and project; I tell people in my house that I’m writing, the cats find a good place to nap. Nothing else comes in and out of my consciousness while I’m fixated on the job at hand; I live and breathe my piece and I like privacy when I’m delving into emotional territory. I don’t do well with interruptions because I lose trains of thought and patterns, and this makes me grumpy. This kind of environment, the one I need to write, is excruciatingly hard to come by when you’re working with other people.

Furthermore, I’m a magpie! Writing is hard and I look for distractions 95% of the time. If someone is in the room with me I will constantly strike up conversation. Even by myself I get water, tea, snacks, etc. But once I’m in my groove I’m in it, and I don’t like to be disturbed.

Luckily, I’ve had success with “battling” people online. Timed intervals where I try to get the highest word count works for me. Getting myself coordinated with others to do this is actually the tricky part.

So I’m equal parts happy and worried about the possibility of a writing group, but I know touching base with other craft members and having a designated writing commitment time is going to be amazing. I’m going to suck it up and adapt.

I’m curious about others, do you find you have similar discipline issues? And for those of you in online or in-person writing groups, what has your experience been?