The Three Biggest Writing Distractions

Loving something doesn’t make it easy to do. I don’t know about you, but there are a million things that want to steal my writing time. These are the worst offenders for writers:

Social Media. It is like sweet cocaine, feeding the human need for shiny new things and our fears of missing out. This is the one distraction that I got a handle on. While you don’t have to cut social media from your life, limit your time spent to twenty minutes per day. That will satisfy your cravings without draining your day.

The Internet. I’m old enough to remember a time when there was no internet or Google and every mom and pop store didn’t have a website with a blog. The internet is my greatest weakness. How I’ve dealt with this is to do research before sitting down to write. If I have to go online to look something up when writing, then I time myself. If I can’t find what I need in the allotted five-minutes then I’ll leave myself a note.

Reading. I can spend an entire day reading. Should I spend the half hour before I go to bed reading or working on my novel? I’m not proud to say; many times I choose to read. I have to force myself to not read, by visualizing my books in my hands. The constant reminders of my goals motivate me to get my butt to the desk.

Bonus!

Procrastination. This manifests in many forms. You tell yourself you’re doing research, but two hours and twenty YouTube videos later you still haven’t written a word. Procrastination also manifests from comparing yourself to others and feeling sorry for yourself. It’s difficult to write when obsessing about another writer’s progress or feeling like everything you write is garbage. So, why bother? Another way procrastination sneaks in, is when you tell yourself you’re too busy to write. But, are you really? Getting out of this trap isn’t easy. Cut out the people and places where you know you’ll play the comparison game. Make writing a routine that you schedule and have an accountability system or buddy who will hold your feet to the fire when you miss your writing time.

I didn’t put life issues like family, pets, kids, and a day job as distractions because they aren’t. They are the reasons most of us want to write–and they give our lives meaning.

What are your biggest distractions?

I hope you liked this month’s blog post. The books in my urban fantasy series, Primordial Realms, are available at Amazon. Please let me know your thoughts by liking, commenting or subscribing.