Distractions All the Way

One of the hardest aspects of writing is the fact that there are so many damnably attractive alternatives. You sit at the desk and try to focus on the day ahead. That involves thinking about the coming scenes, planning, plotting, getting the mind into the right frame for envisioning bloody murder or a battle scene, and all the while, from the corner of the eye, you can see the bright sunlight playing over the buildings opposite.

Today I sat down filled with good intentions. I wrote my to do list on the whiteboard, where I could see it from my desk. Then I turned on the computer.

Many hours later, I have achieved a lot. I’ve made coffee for the postman, I’ve spoken twice to the artist opposite who was promised that the parcel delivery firm had correctly delivered her box to me (nope), I’ve spoken to my daughter and wife, I’ve tucked in the hound when she complained about the cold, I’ve made myself two cups of tea…

Yes. Her.

I have also written several emails, updated Twitter, I’ve selected the seven books I need for research for my next book, and I’ve spent some time on the web. I have thought through a website redesign I need, and done a little mental dabbling with paints, planning a picture I want to paint, and chosen a book as a gift.

There are days like that. Generally they mean that I’ll end up feeling dissatisfied. However, all the bits and pieces are important. All the conversations were important, the dabbling with paints could well end up with a profitable sideline, my thoughts about the website could be crucial for the future, and even the chat to the postman and the artist opposite have given me ideas. Okay, so tucking the hound into her bed is perhaps less directly business related, but all I can say to that is, that if I don’t tuck her in, she’ll give me hell and stare at me meaningfully, and unless you’ve had a Ridgeback staring meaningfully at you, you cannot understand just how disruptive to logical thoughts that can be!

However, the real distraction today is, that I’m waiting for a new dog. We are to rehome a lovely Dalmatian, a pooch we’ve known for several years, and whose owners find themselves with too little time, since taking on new work commitments, to be able to cope with the exercise the dog needs. She gets on well with our hound, and she will be a spur to me to get out more, which is all to the good as far as I’m concerned. Except, of course, that means another daily distraction.

So, how do you cope with distractions?

I have the same rules as I do for breaking writer’s block. Basically, crack on! If you’re distracted, you need to either absorb the distraction or work. When I say absorb the distraction, I mean that it may be work-specific and work-justified. If you have to put in place a new business plan, or have to write some emails, or need to read a book for research, then set time aside to do those things. When my wife became self-employed, some years ago, she was advised to plan for marketing. Her business plan had to allocate time for admin and selling her services. That should be one-third of her work time. The other two-thirds should be enough to do her job, but had to pay for the one-third as well. Whether that third is spent every day, or is accounted for by some mornings each week, is entirely up to you. But if you aren’t in those sections of the week, you have to sit down and work. Writing is only another form of work, after all. So, work-specific tasks can be built into the working week, and those distractions that are nothing to do with work, well, they have to be set aside until you have time to deal with them.

That means, no web-surfing, no reading that latest thriller you’ve been trying to get to, no chatting with a postman over a coffee, and no daydreaming about a new Dalmatian …

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