The toughest thing about writing to me is writing. The butt in chair aspect of the whole endeavor is fine if you’re on a beach or out in the woods or on the porch of the farm or in the libarary and so on. However, sitting at home when there are a thousand distractions clouding your mind is not the ideal opportunity to get that engine going. I’m quite trash at it, actually. Trash at the getting going and trash at the organization of when and how to consistently sit down at put out the words.
Over the summer I spent time in Spain and Canada. In Spain the reward for words was going to the beach. In Canada the beach was where I did the words. In both occasions I had a system in place where when I was writing, I was doing so with ‘just enough’ positive distraction that I could stay on task until my mind needed a blip. Spain was a one room pool house where I had internet service but only one screen, so I’d have to forcefully click off my full screen writing experience to distract myself. The area was teeming with passing cars and barking dogs and the occasional party a block away, but it still felt suburban–even remote. I wasn’t in a major city where there were distractions everywhere, and even those local sounds became background noise after a few days.
Canada was magic. There is no internet on the beach. There is only me and the words. Sometimes an Eagle flew by and once even landed in front of me, and that is all the distraction I need. The serenity and the regularity of the experience taught me that I want to write in isolation. I want to be disconnected when I spin the words, because then it is coming from me undistracted and unfiltered. It feels liek being jacked in separates me from the core of where my stories come from.
Home is different. Harder. There a lot of people in this house all playing games, shouting, and what not. I rarely am even in the office alone as I am now. I am peppered with distractions. I have three screens, which is probably two too many. These are the distractions I face. I have to find a better way and perhaps a better place. After all, I’m not so strong that I can overcome all of this on my own. I’ve proven that at least.