I'm Trying to Write a Book & These 5 Things Keep Distracting Me
As some of you may know from my short & sweet Twitter updates: I’m writing a book. It’s fun, it’s juicy and it’s coming along at a slow, steady pace. But it’s also obscenely tough to sit down and write, write, write with no distractions. They’re everywhere! My phone, my job and even my own brain distract me from writing.
I am one thousand percent committed to writing this book and if cutting out distractions is what I need to do in order to get it written, then that’s what I’m going to do. Unfortunately, I can’t completely cut them all out, but I can try to minimize their damage to my fiery chick lit novel.
5 Things That Are Distracting Me from Writing My Book
1. My phone
If you can’t relate to this one, I need to know your secrets. Right now. Because my phone is like a magnet for my hands and eyes and I can’t stand it. I’m getting better at it, sure, but it’s still incredibly addicting. Right now my phone is on the other side of the room and on silent—out of sight, out of mind, right? (Wrong.) I refuse to be a slave to my phone and I’ve already started working on being on Instagram & Twitter less often. So far, so… okay.
2. Working a 9-5 job
Some days (okay, most days) I just want to work on my book. I dream about making a French press full of dark roast coffee, putting on a focus playlist and getting down to business. But then I remember about bills, rent and financial security. However, even if I have to be at the office from nine-to-five every day it doesn’t mean I can’t still write. I often use my hour-long lunch break to fit in some extra writing. It gives me a good time frame to try and squeeze out as much creative content as I possibly can.
3. Writer’s block
Ugh, sometimes I just have no idea what to even write. I sit at my computer with my fingers hovering above my keyboard and my eyes fixed on the thousands of words I’ve already typed, and yet, nothing happens. However, I’ve decided that every single day I am going to open up my book on my computer even if I don’t think I have a single word to write. If I only get one sentence written, that’s okay—it’s more than what I had yesterday.
4. A fear of failure
I’ve never written a book before. I’m new to this. And let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it seems. (Or does it even seem easy? I don’t know at this point.) Of course I’m afraid of failing. What if my books sucks? What if no one wants to read it? Or worse, what if it doesn’t even end up being published? These are some of the thoughts that cross my mind when writing—but I know I can’t let this stop me. I won’t let it stop me.
5. My phone (again)
And here we are once more. See how big of a distraction it is? Even when I’m fully aware that I checked my social media apps five minutes ago, I still find my hand or mind gravitating towards it. It’s awful. I now keep it out of reach when I’m writing and keep the ringer off. And perhaps this will make you proud—I’ve only gotten up to check my phone once during the writing of this post.
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Feature image by Evangeline Davis.