Clutter

Life is so cluttered isn't it? As an author I'm meant to be promoting myself on Facebook, Instagram and twitter etc, keeping my website up-to-date, blogging here, there and everywhere....oh and also write a book.
Well I may not have been that great at the self-promotion of late but I have written something. My new novel Under Italian Skies is out in April. It's about a woman who gets completely involved in someone else's life. Oh yes and it's about food, friendship, happiness, change and all the other themes I find myself returning to.
People often tell me I'm prolific but the truth is I spend a lot of time in my writing hut and there are days when I write and delete the same paragraph for hours. In fact during the creation of Under Italian Skies the delete key fell off my laptop!
And I have to shut out the clutter, ban myself from Facebook, not answer my phone, and submerge myself in the world of my story or else it doesn't work. I used to turn off my Internet connection and leave my phones in the house but then one day a cyclone passed by really close and I didn't notice until I looked up and saw bits of people's roof insulation all over my lawn so now I stay loosely connected to the world just in case!
But the clutter; it hurts my head and it exhausts me. And it only seems to be increasing. To sit down in a peaceful place with a really good book and plenty of time to enjoy it seems such a luxury.