The F-word

Or how shiny things and spitting on cake derail my writing practice

One of my greatest challenges as a writer is overcoming distraction – that irritating tendency to focus on anything except the task at hand.

I know I’m not alone in living with chronic procrastination, but for me it takes two forms: putting things off because I know they won’t be fun and putting things off because I know they will.

The first reason makes perfect sense – who hasn’t done that? – but the second one, avoiding something because I might enjoy it, just seems daft.

It’s not that I’m afraid of a blank page; I’m not.

It’s not that I have a paucity of ideas; I sometimes have too many.

It’s not that I don’t want to write; I really, truly do.

So why can’t I just sit at my desk and get on with it?

Because it might be fun.

Apparently there’s a thing these days called FOMO, or fear of missing out. For me it’s more like FORO: fear of running out.

I think FORO is one of the reasons why I eat so slowly: I don’t want the yummy thing on my plate or in my mouth to come to an end. (It also helps that I grew up in a family where you owned what you ate. For example, if we were given a rare piece of cake, one of my sisters would spit on the icing so no one else would try to take her piece from her. In turn, both of my sisters knew to keep well away from my meals, or they risked receiving a fork through the back of the hand.)

See what happened there? Yep, I got distracted.

So what is the link for me between writing and distraction?

Maybe my upbringing is a factor. As a child, I was often the victim of mixed parental messages and confused values. Maybe you know the sort of thing: Be serious. Work first, play later. I haven’t got time for this. Go outside and play. Don’t waste your time (or sometimes ‘don’t waste mine’ if it was my poor overworked mother). As I remember it, anything that was fun wasn’t good for me.

I know that a lot of people find writing hard work, but I’m not one of them.

For me, writing is fun.

              It follows then that because writing is Fun, my brain says I shouldn’t be doing it, especially when there are More Important things to do, like Work. I’ve tried to think of writing as being work but that just ties me in knots: because if I think of it as Work, now it might not be Fun and therefore it must be avoided and replaced with something More Important, like sweeping the floor.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

And because I’m exhausted just thinking about it, I need another distraction, another shiny object to grab my attention. I try to justify this by telling myself that shiny things could lead to new ideas, and new ideas will add interest and depth to the book I’m writing (as if there’s not already enough going on, trying to balance the plot, the characters, the setting, the milestones, the tone and the voice ... ).

I know I need to avoid shiny object syndrome.

I know procrastination is my biggest enemy, and that it continues to derail my writing life.

It’s the reason why I’ve already spent months on the outline for my next book; invested thousands of dollars on writing programs that hold me to account; put myself out there with a shiny new website; and told my long-suffering friends and family that I’m a writer now, not a semi-retired something-or-other else.

I even know the solution.

Stop avoiding the F-word.

Focus.

Set personal parameters and stick to them. Embrace the limitations that lead to greater creativity, productivity and wellbeing.

Wait! What a great book that would make. Golly, that could be fun to write.

I think I’d better put away my broom, make a cup of tea, and sit with it for a while.