Craft - Pt. 8 / Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

There was a reason I flunked out of college my first time around; my focus was nowhere to be found. I was listless, but away from home for the first time. I was on my own and completely wasted what could have been a solid education. Looking back on things, I know now that every decision I've made has led me to the immediate moment, a moment where I genuinely feel that I'm supposed to be. Every piss poor decision has come to this existence in San Francisco. I think I can safely call myself a Fatalist now; I'm a firm believer that certain things happen in life in order to put us where we need to be.

As in life, distractions are a part of writing. These distractions can be both good and bad, but it's a matter of you, the individual, taking over the reins sometimes. Don't feel like writing on a particular day? Don't - but involve yourself in something that can possibly influence the writing. With "Impasto" being a book about art and relationships, my free time should be spent with the people I consider friends or spent walking through a museum and soaking up every minute in the service of the novel. But that's not what's happening.

I've got documentaries on artists on my computer that need to be watched, if only to get into the mindset of a physical artist even if they aren't the ones showing up in my novel. Documentaries about artistic movements, artists, thefts, anything...one small bit of information can flick on the light switch of inspiration and last for several pages. So far, I've just been distracted without anything playing a role in the writing of my book.

This is normal. This is okay. You're going to get distracted, you're going to find yourself going off the rails for weeks where the writing just isn't coming. I find that after these periods of non-writing (we're talking less than 10 pages a month, which is unacceptable for me, personally), there is a floodgate that unleashes everything sitting on the surface of your subconscious, waiting to be released onto the page. Sometimes it's just a matter of planting one's ass in front of the manuscript and seeing where it takes you. I've been stuck for a little while recently, despite eliminating a lot of my distractions; simply stopping and looking at what I was writing garnered 8 new pages in a day.

However, I would urge you not to wait until this time passes. Your best options are to physically remove the distractions, remove everything you turn to in the moments of despondency when you feel you can't come up with anything worth putting on the page. The upside of writing stuff you're unhappy with is that you can, at a later date, revise what's on the page. This isn't possible with the blank page. The downside of writing stuff that may not make it into the book is that you're unhappy with it and you may think it's trash. This may be true, but again, going back during the revision process at least gives you something to work with.

Getting rid of distractions requires some serious sacrifice. If, like me, you can't seem to stay off Facebook for longer than a day, have a friend lock you out. Social media has become an almost integral part of our lives, but cutting it out can help eliminate a huge distraction. I miss finding out about what's going on with my friends, but those that understand what I'm doing know I'll be back and they understand why I do what I do when I disappear. They understand that my writing, an unfortunately solitary act, is an important part of who I am and always will be.

All this is to say: pick your battles when it comes to distractions. At this point, I understand which obstacles are the largest for me to overcome when I need to focus, so I eliminate them for a period of time. I also know that it's good to get out of the house, do something different, hang out with people you haven't seen in ages, just to get that personal connection back for awhile. For one, you'll be rekindling the friendships that you've had. For two, you'll be breaking your daily routine. Get out. Get way out, forget the writing for awhile, put it out of your head and enjoy a day or two a week where you do something for yourself. This is how you'll save your sanity and this is ultimately how you'll save the writing.

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