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My schedule is all messed up. It’s been several days since I’ve been able to follow my daily plan. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to get any writing done on my book and I am very unhappy. I need to develop a plan for when life intrudes. I am easily distracted so if I don’t have a road map to follow I can go off on long tangents.
Some examples of things I do when I don’t go with the prescribed plan:
Learn to juggle.
Read up on Viking Shield Maidens and plan out a costume to wear to Faire.
Watch Sense and Sensibility again and yet again in the same day.
Look up crow magic.
Find free books from Amazon on Physics and Philosophy.
Check out furniture stores for leather sectional sofas.
Scan through my old pictures.
Pluck the grey hairs from my chins.
Water the plants (because they are screaming from the edge of the abyss.)
You see the problem? None of these things come close to being writing. I can be distracted for days by these sorts of things. That’s why my Daily To Do List has things like:
Feed the dog.
Brush teeth.
Dress.
Vitamins.
500 words.
I have to have this kind of list to keep me on track. Otherwise I get lost in the woods of Fun and Interesting but Totally Useless Things. If I wasn’t able to focus on one thing for hours at a time I’d wonder if I had like OCD or whatever that thing is where you are easily distracted. It’s why I write 500 meaningless words before beginning on any other writing. It’s like running in place. My fingers limber up and I can purge all of those thoughts I have that are trying to force me off the road.
I’ll be breaking out my NEO. The internet on my laptop is too easily accessible. It’s small and easy to carry and has a screen that does not accommodate my obsessive need to go back and correct what I’ve written. It’s been awhile since I’ve used it but I think this is the perfect time. All of my words are ready to tumble out and I must give them the ability to escape without distractions.
I use project cards to write down the ideas I get when I am trying to avoid writing too. (I try to avoid writing because even though I want it so much the endless and formless fears I come up with scare me so much I never start.) If I don’t write the ideas down on index cards they don’t get out of the way. I’ve taken to keeping index cards and felt tip pens by my bed for when they wake me up. I like to big 5 x 8 assorted color cards so I can write big in the dark or jot down details I want to remember. For instance, there’s the Sunny Sunday photo I want to take of a sun made out of a hundred lit tea lights.
I wonder where my NEO is.
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