One of the writers in our Monthly Membership Programme said to me recently, “I have no shortage of ideas but I am easily put off or distracted. A fault of mine, I think.”

Hmm, I don’t think that’s an unusual problem – don’t we all suffer from this?

We live in an age of distraction. Our smart phones are constantly with us, beeping and trilling with texts, emails and Facebook notifications, telling us who has commented on, liked and shared our posts. Then there’s twitter, instagram and 100 other social media notifications. 24/7 news is available, and whatsapp keeps us in touch with friends and family wherever they are in the world. Youtube clips, films and even box sets of TV series are instantly accessible to any mobile device . . . talk about temptations to distraction!

All these things can be both enjoyable, and extremely useful, but we have to know where to draw the line. When you are writing (or with your family :-)) do you allow these tools to become distractions?

technology

And it’s not just technology that distracts us; even washing the floor can seem important if we have reached a difficult point in our story!

Don’t let the distractions distract you from what is really important.

Can I make some suggestions?

  1. When you sit down to write, turn off your phone. The world can wait!
  2. Do not have any tabs open, apart from the one you are working on.
  3. Don’t cheat! No sneaky peeks, OK?
  4. Put everything else off till later.

Do you suffer from distractions distracting you? Which one do you find the hardest to ignore? Start a conversation in the comments below (unless you are in the middle of finishing a chapter, in which case, back to work!). 🙂

Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing and Write for a Reason
Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing and Write for a Reason

Hehe,

Janet

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Don’t Let The Distractions Distract You
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