Distractions

Published on by thelonelyauthorblog

As if writers didn’t already have enough obstacles in the way with slush piles, difficulties in finding an agent, and keeping up with the latest demands of the market, we also have to face the difficulty of distractions. Nowadays, with social media taking up more of our precious time, its a miracle anyone gets anything done. (Victor Hugo didn’t have to worry about twitter or updating his Facebook status. If he did, Quasimodo may have suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome instead.)

To avoid the daily distractions of our lives: the noisy kids, quality time with the spouse (Sorry, honey you are never a distraction), the TV, etc. I made it a habit to get up an hour or two earlier than everyone else. Early morning quiet time that I share with my laptop and my favorite coffee mug have provided countless hours of productivity. (If you are a night bird do the opposite go to bed an hour later than everyone else.) It may not seem like much, but if you train your body and mind, you will be productive.

Remember this, while an hour a day may not seem like much, you can only write one page at a time. There have been days where I write five ages in than hour and there are days where I barely complete a single one. If you write one page per day you will have 365 pages at the end of one year (that is roughly 91,000 words).

You need to find a system that works for you and write.

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190 thoughts on “Distractions”

  1. Distractions are one of the hurdles a writer has to overcome. It isn’t easy with family, job, chores, and social media. I like your idea of planning on going to bed an hour later. I will make this a habit. Thanks.

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    1. Sometimes give up an hour of sleep is the only way to ensure you get work done. This habit has worked for me. If you travel to work by bus or train that could be the perfect time to do some editing and reviewing of your work. I think the basic idea is to find the time.

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      1. Write,write, write. Whatever you have to do to complete or edit your work. I have trained myself to be efficient with small blocks of time. Little by little, these blocks of time add up. Good luck with your writing. And thanks for taking the time out to comment.

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  2. Love this post and should give writing in the morning a try 🙂 I was reading through my old journal the other week and there is a remarkable difference in my tone depending on what time I wrote the piece. Things written in the morning were positive, upbeat and hopeful. Whereas things written at night seemed much darker, negative and just tired with everything!

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                    2. I love that everyone is telling you to “send the letters” and wondering if it’s for anyone and trying to get you to reveal things. It’s like a watching my new favourite series on Netflix
                      I am doing that. Smiling
                      Why is everything you say so HOT

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                    30. Yup

                      Back home and out of the rain
                      My mind remembers my sweetie
                      who isn’t home
                      Oh the pain
                      Oh the pain

                      Then Daddy breaks out in a rap
                      Yo, where can she be?
                      Sucking on another peepee
                      Where can she be?
                      Banging the maitre d

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                    67. Wait
                      First of all…I didn’t mean to be callous when I said “not sadly” . I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings. I just…I get sad too with all…this but I try to block it out

                      No I didn’t, who?!

                      But I did notice N liking my last few posts but not commenting. And reposting a poem of hers from months ago, the first comment on which was you telling her she’s perfect and you love her…nearly threw up in my mouth until I looked at the date of the comments!

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                    68. Hahaha. I bet she did that purposely. Freaking nutjob. Happy she is gone from my life.. Fiery, I am playful with you. I will never play you. You should know that by now.

                      And you didn’t hurt my feelings. So no worries.

                      Liked by 1 person

                    69. I think so too. Very manipulative.

                      Of course I know that…I wouldn’t be so…you know..with you if I thought otherwise.

                      So who were the bloggers who didn’t comment??

                      Liked by 1 person

                    101. Ok. I just read your email lol. I won’t mention any of those things again. I understand.

                      I’ll reply later.

                      So who was the other blogger who hasn’t commented on your posts?

                      Liked by 1 person

                    165. Haha! They’ll have to drool over my avatar pic. She always gets a lot of attention
                      Although….wildly curl her hair and add a few curves and she’s not far off me…lol
                      I didn’t expect it…but it’s kind of funny. I wonder what they want to know…

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                    166. Lol. I listened to it this morning and had totally forgotten ,like EVERYTHING about the lyrics and the video. Mickey Rourke and whatsername.. Jennifer Love Hewitt?
                      Loved it all over again . Not because of those two, oh… you know.

                      And now I am just letting YouTube do its thing after that song and right now we are up to Total Eclipse of the Heart. I am loving this.

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