Distractions are plentiful. There are dozens of hours of TV shows to catch up on, a few movies, tons of reading. You could email people or just talk to friends. You could cook instead of writing; do some spring cleaning while you are at it.
Heck, have a shower or go to the gym.
All of these things are usually welcome distractions. They are integral parts of our lives not easily discarded in favour of writing.
But if you love to write, or hate it, or love to hate it, or hate loving it (you very likely need to write in any case), then there’s a point where you have to face the fact that all those things, wonderful as they are and however necessary, also kept you from writing.
It’s so hard not to write.
If you’re a writer, you have to write. It’s impossible not to write.
Somehow I manage to write every day. I don’t even allow most distractions to take over my time (especially catching up on those shows). But I can happily spend three hours in communication with someone on the other side of the world and leave any other writing be.
I don’t regret spending time with someone. People are important. I’m not a hermit, couldn’t and wouldn’t want to be. And sometimes you need them to help you learn something about yourself. It also helps to get out of my head, which is where I spend most of my time already anyway.
But now I’m at a cafe, I spent some time working on my website, changing the look of it a little, and really enjoyed myself. I will also go and do some story writing today. Although there’s a soup that needs cooking, laundry that needs doing and on the way home I have to get some groceries as well.
I may even watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Balance is the key. And, although I probably sound like a broken record, not having a day job to worry about (at least on the weekend) helps as well.
It’s so easy not to write.
It’s so damn hard not to write.
It think it was Richard Bach (another of my favourite writers), who said “A writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”
I won’t quit, but that doesn’t mean I won’t allow distractions every now and then.
2clouds 