The best writers are thinking about their work and thinking about the things that inspire their work all of the time. I don’t know this to be true, but I believe this to be true. Why? Because I’m not one of the best writer, and I don’t spend a majority of my time thinking about my work. In truth, I think about my work when I am working and, lately, only rarely when I am not working. There are reasons behind this too numerous to list at this point, but I still believe that thinking about your story–falling into that world–is how to become a good writer. In fact, it might be the biggest part of how to become a great writer.
Consider where your thoughts go. The universe is teeming with interesting things happening, which, for the purposes of this ten minute exercise, we will be referring to as distractions. These come in all shapes and sizes. Instagram is a clearing house of distractions following in the footsteps of Facebook, Youtube, and of course, TV. My distractions are physical and virtual. I get distracted by video games (though less so than I have in the past. I think I am searching for story in video games and finding very little). More often than not I get distracted by the lives of my kids and the sports that they are involved in. Lately I am consumed by the littlest kid’s football team. I’m thinking about them on a daily basis and reflecting on the relative powerlessness to help them be successful by reaching out into the ether on a regular basis to draw in information to be helpful.
This is time that should be spent writing. This is time that should at the least be spent thinking about the writing and being as excited about it as I am about him winning games.