I never thought about how many distractions I let get in the way when I am having a “writing day,” until I actually paid attention. This is what my day was like a few weeks ago when I decided I was going to “buckle down and get some writing done.”
I slept until 7am. I'm anxious to get up and start my day. I'm going spend my day at the keyboard and be productive. This is what I've promised myself.
I get up and make a cup of coffee and linger while I watch a bit of the morning news.
I look at my phone and check my emails.
I had better take Rocket for a walk. If I wait much longer, it will be too hot to walk him.
The morning news distracts me and I stand, frozen, staring at the TV. I snap out of it and turn the TV off.
Rocket and I are hot and sweaty by the time we get back to the house. By now it's after 9am. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten yet so I go to the kitchen. I have some toast and finish another cup of coffee.
I need to start a load of laundry. I go to the bedroom to get the laundry basket.
Finally, I sit down at the keyboard. Coffee? No too late and too warm for coffee. I need something cold to drink. I'm back up and head for the kitchen.
Iced tea in hand, I look at the clock above my desk. It's 10:30am! Where has the morning gone?
I sit down at the desk and fire up my laptop.
So for the next, God-knows-how-long, I check my email, look at my Twitter feed, look at WordPress.
"Oops, I need to get that load of laundry into the dryer. Hmmmm, I should probably strip the bed today and change the sheets. ...sigh. Yes, I really should."
I finally open up Scrivener. I look up at the clock and it's 11:30am!
"Maybe I should think about lunch before I really get down to work here."
Where did the morning go?! I haven't typed a word yet and the entire morning is gone!
I sit down at my desk, with a bowl of soup next to me. Finally, I start to pluck away at the keyboard. Its past noon.
After a couple of hours or so of work, I look down at my meager word count and frown.
“I need to fold that load of laundry and I still need to put fresh sheets on the bed. I haven't posted anything in a couple of days; maybe I should work on a post for my blog."
On Monday, my friends will ask what I did over the weekend. "Oh, I spent my weekend at the keyboard."
Maybe I need to rethink the investment of the Time Share on that deserted island. I would have fewer distractions!
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4 comments:
Ha! I feel your pain. I am very similar. I think we all are. What is it that makes us feel like we can't let that laundry go just because we are at home. I think it's great that you worked on it at all, really! The other day Sue wrote a post about working on her novel just 5 minutes a day and she was getting a lot done.
Well, I don't feel so bad now! Maybe TODAY I can get something written for the beginning pages of my book. It's been hard to start, but thanks to this post (and others similar) I can always edit later if needed. Getting started is always the hardest!
Penny--That sort of thing happens to me all the time. (I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who gets sidetracked. ;)
Good luck with your novel.
If I check my email before writing, forget it! I'm sucked into a bottomless pit of work. I have to write when I wake up and have my first cup of coffee. Usually it works, except when you have a morning like I had today, where my landlord forgot to tell me that they were doing some construction on the side of my house. Right as I'm getting into the groove, the drilling starts. Blerg. :)
Thanks for the post, Penny!
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