Distractions

I have a confession.  I am a self-distracter in my writing life.  What does this mean?  I have an uncanny ability to find a variety of activities that will distract me from my job to write my third novel.  This is not procrastination.  No, this is a different evil.  I chew up time working on a variety of projects so that I squeeze out the time I should devote to writing.

The first form of distraction is busy work.  We all do it.  Most of it is social media.  Read and manage your e-mail; check-in on Facebook more than once a day; read the online newsletters you subscribe to.  There is one caveat about on line newsletters because mine are about writing.  I subscribe to Funds for Writers; Live, Write, Thrive; PW Daily; Indie Writers Support; Alliance for Independent Authors; Create Space; Good Reads; and Advanced Fiction Writing.  Oh my!  I read a lot of newsletters and e-zines.  Then there are the health newsletters and ezines like WebMD – couldn’t live without that one.

Another major distraction for me is volunteer work.  I have a flashy red costume with a giant yellow “V” in the center that I wear 3-4 times a week.  I’m on the Board of Directors for the local Civic Theatre; I’m on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Sun Prairie Public Library; I’m on the Board of Directors for the South Central Library System (noticing a pattern?); I’m the discussion leader for a library book club; I work in the kitchen at the local Senior Center once a week; and, I host a local radio program called:  Conversations with Wisconsin Artists.  Some weeks I find myself coming and going so much I run into myself. Oh my.

Not least but last in my distractions are the grandchildren.  I’ll drop anything for quality grandkids time.  I’m lucky because two of the four live just about five miles away.  If a week goes by that I don’t spend time with my grandsons – well, I’d shrivel up and day – I would.

Then of course, there’s writing that isn’t novel writing.  Top of the list are the weekly blogs.  You write something and send it out into the nether.  Every month that I review my webpage stats I’m flabbergasted – but pleased.  I write for my radio program.  I have a monthly column in my dear friend Marshall Cook’s e-zine Extra Innings.  I do some grant work from time to time for non-profit organizations.

And then . .. and then . .. I work on my third novel.