Have you ever participated in a writeathon? I joined my first one this month and yesterday was the first day. The goal is to set a time limit of 10, 20 or 30 minutes and write continuously for that amount of time. Each day you are given a suggestion or prompt to work with so that you can focus on your writing. Today's prompt was “DISTRACTIONS”. Wow… what a topic for me to address. I am surrounded by distractions (and I live alone)…lol
Here is what I wrote. Distractions, oh yes, I've got distractions. I work from my kitchen table. I live alone so I don't need to clean it off for meals every day and therein lies the problem. My kitchen table, which is actually a board room table, is covered with papers – papers for my businesses, papers for Toastmasters (many papers for Toastmasters) mail that needs to be processed, along with a variety of other miscellaneous items – cups, glasses, pill containers, telephones (3 at the moment – 2 with head sets attached).
I sort through the papers, discard some, move others to a new locations but somehow there always seems to be piles of paper calling for my attention right there on the table.
And then there are distractions on the computer – those emails needing to be sorted through from all the email lists I have joined – keep, trash, skim, read, go to see their offers, etc. And then there is Facebook. I have set up my daily posts for October, but I have to go check out what is happening and before I know it I am sucked into the vortex and half an hour or more has been drained from my life.
As for time suckers, don't get me started on Pinterest. Ohmygoodness, there is so much there. So many inspirational quotes that I just have to save, so many craft projects I'd like to do. There just aren't enough hours in the day for Pinterest browsing.
And then there are all the other distractions – a favourite tv show, or maybe just a “take a break” show that leads to another. When I am my boyfriends place, he is the distraction- but not in the way you might think. He wants me to watch TV with him instead of being on the computer. When he wants to talk to me he knocks on my door and walks in – even though my door is closed meaning I am working. He simply sits down and starts talking and my train of thought goes out the window.
So, what to do about all these distractions? I'll save that for another post, my time is up.
Enjoy your day
BANABU
Fran Watson