Guest Post: 5 (Random) Things that Distract Writers

My number one writing distraction is my busy three-year old toddler. I’ve had to become an expert at speed typing and managing my time. If only I could clone myself some days!

Writer, Karina shares some random things that could be distracting you…leave a comment and let us know what distracts you?

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I, for one, have a tendency to pop open a web browser and surf through Reddit for minutes at a time. Next thing you know, it’s been 30 minutes to an hour of procrastination. I decided to install StayFocused for my web browser so that I am allotted maybe 10 to 15 minutes on days that I need to get serious. For those short on time like myself, every bit of time counts towards writing bliss. Find ways to curb those habits so that these distractions won’t ruin your writing life. The following are some things that may be distracting you.

Author: Daveblog

1. Hmm… that closet looks like it needs some love.

So you’re plopped and ready to go on your desk and you are faced with a blank screen. That cursor taunts you and your inability to put a decent sentence. It blinks at you time and time again until your look away and see… your closet. Left open for the world to see, your closet has been entrusted with the job of keeping your things and clothes out of sight. Which now is doing neither. Maybe, just maybe, instead of looking at this screen, some early Spring cleaning is in order…

2. Candy Crush Saga. Minecraft. Words with Friends. Farmville? Choose your poison. 

Not tempted by the lure of a messy closet? Maybe a game perhaps. Those fun, innocent, little casual games usually does not take more than a couple of minutes to play at a time. Plant some wheat, and log off of Facebook. No harm done. But then your phone dings and it’s your friend who has just triple scored on Words with Friends. You can’t believe it and you start trying to craft the perfect word that will double your friend’s score. Minutes creep by and you remember your crop must be ready. You harvest your crop and then you hear your phone ding again. And then the vicious cycle continues.

3. My anti-virus needs updating? Wait… why is my computer running slow?

OK, so after putting away all those lovely distractions, a pop-up reminder to get your computer updated appears. Then you remember that you haven’t run a full antivirus scan in months. And that maybe the slowness might be a sign of something sinister, like, (gasp!) a virus . Next thing you know, it’s been almost 2 hours of cleaning out your computer and checking for that mysterious problem that in the end didn’t really exist.

4. My desk and laptop are here somewhere.

Because you keep a “cozy” workspace set up, you may not even have a workspace anymore. In fact, your desk is consumed by everything under the sun so when you look at your desk and computer, you don’t see a desk but rather, one other thing on your to do list. Don’t let that be you. Keep your space (somewhat) neat so that once you sit, there is as little physical distractions as possible.

5. Cats on keyboards Yeah, I said it. If you’re a lovely cat owner, your cat just may happen to really like your computer set up. Let me clarify, your keyboard. Just your keyboard. Not a cat owner? Check these pictures out to see what I mean and prepare to be amused. Cats are awesome, yes, but only when they don’t want to take over your keyboard.

If you have a go-to distraction, find a way to curb  this bad habit by making it harder for you to do it in the first place. If it’s Facebook and/or time-sucking games that are getting you, block your browsers certain days a week with web extensions such as StayFocused. If it’s the constant cleaning, make sure that your workspace is clear and clean and away from other parts of your home that may be distracting.

Though not all of these may apply to you, please note that distractions can tamper with your creative juices and your ever precious time. So identify your kryptonite, and combat it head on and good luck!