Today being the first and being Wednesday took me by surprise, and I completely spaced IWSG. But hey, look, it’s not quite lunchtime over here in the Mountain time zone, so I think I’m good. Though, this means I will be late when it comes to visiting others.
I’ve had some writing leaps and bounds this past month. I had a panic moment with a chapter, rewrote a chunk, cut 4K, then begged my wonderful betas for forgiveness of my unpreparedness.
In book 1 world, I’m finally on… *looks at progress* chapter 3. That’s not quite the pace I had hoped for, but it is better than nothing. I have figured out where I want to focus my unfocused subplot, so that’s a positive. But I feel I need to take the time to hash out the changes I want to make rather than assessing this project in 35 chapter parts. I just haven’t done it yet.
IWSG Question of the Month – How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?
Well, I can’t write when people around me are talking, so one option I go with is earbuds and rain sounds. But I am extremely susceptible to distractions in the form of art, other writing, and reading. If I’m invested in a story I’m reading, I don’t get any writing done. Sometimes, if I’ve got an active art project, I’d rather spend my lunch hour drawing instead of writing. When my brain demanded I fix the problem in something I already finished, then I set aside my book 1 progress to get that done.
At the same time, I’m not concerned about distractions, because I know I will return to what I want to be working on (Book 1 in my current case). It is how I am.
Did you remember today was IWSG day? How are you progressing with your projects? Am I distracting you?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
I like how you’re not worried about distractions, how you know who you are. 🙂
It’s great that you had a good writing month. And I like that you know you’ll get back to your manuscript even if you’re distracted for a bit.
I can’t write around talking people, either. I find a place far away from everyone when I want to write. Sounds like you’ve had a productive month!
I wouldn’t mind being distracted by other creative endeavours! For me it’s usually something more mundane like chores or TV.
It sounds like you know what you need to work on, even if other things have to wait their turn. Whatever works, right?
Hi Loni! I forgot that being out in public would make writing difficult. I have a friend who goes to Starbucks a few times a week just to get herself used to working with distractions. She’s far more disciplined than I am. I have good work habits but I’m out in the bush where birds are notably noisy.
I forgot about the IWSG day too. Usually, I schedule my posts days in advance, but this time, the only thing that reminded me was an IWSG post by one of my writer-friends. It arrived in my email inbox last night, and triggered the frantic scrambling for my own post topic, then writing and publishing my post. As a rule, I try to post the evening before, as I live on the West Coast, and so my time is behind anyone else’s in almost the entire world, except Hawaii.
You’re the second person to mention rain sounds. I never would’ve thought of that.
I’m the other way around. Writing will distract me from other things I want/need to do!
Woohoo! It’s always wonderful when it’s a good writing month!
Figuring out where/how to focus an unfocused subplot is HUGE!! I’m so excited (and maybe a tiny bit jealous…) to hear that!
You made it, so that’s all that matters. I know the feeling…”What? It’s the first Wednesday of a new month already?”
I love your confidence. It certainly is paying off. You’re writing and moving ahead with a project. That sound you hear is me clapping! 🙂
Sometimes our best options are to accept how we are and learn to work around it.
Very clever to use rain sounds and ear buds. I could never write at a coffee shop because of all the people talking! I am very late commenting. Too many places to go this week–such distractions, eh?
First, I love the squirrel hugging the caffeine drink can. Perfect!!
I can’t work when people are talking around me. I can’t listen to music either. I need quiet to concentrate. But…listening to rain on headphones? What a great idea. That could keep the surrounding noise out of my head. Thank you for a great idea!! All best to you, Loni!