If you’re a writer looking for encouragement and help with your writing, you’re in the right place. This month consider how you handle the distractions to your writing.
Writing Through Distractions
In our August book launch for Discover Your Story, an audience member asked how she could write through distractions. That’s a good question, because we all have them at some time or another.
Our answers varied and yours might too. No one answer is right for everyone every time. Whether you’ve had to clear out excess belongings from living space or garage, help your child with homework, or share end-of-life tears with family and friends, there will be times when it’s hard to write, and you have to decide for yourself how to take the next step.
Here are five strategies to consider
- Take a much-needed break and don’t beat yourself up about it
- Go for a walk in a natural area and take in the smells and sights
- Carry a notebook and pen with you wherever you go (because your brain will still be processing what’s happening)
- Write something different; journal or jot short notes
- Try to get caught up on sleep; take a nap
Sometimes you just need a break, when things are piling up. Take care of the items that are most pressing. Moving the goal post, unless you have a firm deadline, can free you. Then mark that new time line and go back to work on your story or article.
In October, as we see the colours of autumn, it’s good to get outdoors and enjoy a walk, with family or a friend. Besides, as you spend time away from your desk, you’ll gain new subjects to write about.
Perhaps your well of ideas is a little dry, after all, and you need some life experiences to refresh you. Try something that you’ve never done before, such as a new sport, or visit with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time (a distance visit, or a phone call). These varying activities can bring relief and relaxation.
Write what you can, and when you can, and do make sure you take care of yourself, eat well, get sufficient sleep. All of those things will surely refresh you to go back to your writing.
Carolyn R. Wilker is a writer, editor, writing instructor and storyteller from Kitchener, Ontario, with publication credits in articles, op-eds, devotionals, poetry, and her books, Once Upon a Sandbox, Harry’s Trees, Les arbres de Harry, Piece by Piece, Travelling Light and the most recent Discover Your Story. She is also a contributor to anthologies including Grandmothers’ Necklace, Wisdom of Old Souls, Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon, and Good Grief People. She blogs at storygal.ca