Distractions

I lead a pretty busy life, and when I'm home I usually have a "to do" list going. A lot of my "to do''s involve sitting down in front of a computer screen. Since I don't have an office, this takes place in my family room, either sititng in my recliner with my lap desk, or at the dining room table. This works well when the other person in my house is asleep for the night, but when he's awake the television is on (or the radio, and he loves talk radio).

So sometimes I'll sit here with the computer in front of me, and the words don't come. It's not that I want to watch or listen to what's on, but it's there, and sometimes it's interesting. Of course, I tend to think a lot of things are interesting. So the words don't get written. Or sometimes things get written and they don't make sense. For example, right now the news is on. My fingers are actually moving across the keyboard, but I can see that a lot of words are misspelled.

In the past I've come up with various strategies for dealing with these problems.

Solution #1: Leave the room. I have a nice three season porch, and when it's light enough to write out there, and it's warm enough (or cool enough) to stand it out there, I can go out and work there. The down side is hubby gets frustrated. He apparently gets lonely because I'm gone so much and he pouts. He offers to turn off the television (grumpily, which lays the guilt trip on me).

Solution #2: Wear earphones. This works especially when the Dear Husband is watching a show I don't particularly like, such as one of those mindless sitcoms he's so fond of. Unfortunately, I can still hear a little bit, and when he's watching something minutely interesting, it doesn't help, unless I turn on the itunes loud enough to overpower it.

Solution #3: Wait to write until after hubby goes to bed. That's at around 6:30 or 7:00 pm, so it's not too bad. Unfortunately, I've been working the 4 AM shift, so I need to go to bed not long after that. By 6:30 or 7 pm my brain is starting to shut down.

Solution #4: Get everything else done in the hopes that someday things will change. I suppose that's what I usually do. Fortunately, I belong to a great writing group. We have two weekends a year set aside for writing. We go away for the weekend. Close enough that it's not too far a drive, but far enough that we can't run home to take care of minor problems. It's great. We all bring our laptops and just write. Those of us who don't particularly want to socialize bring earphones. I'm one of them. The problem? This only happens twice a year. It's not going to happen for another four weeks. I can't write only two times a year! So I've got to keep remembering to use these solutions (maybe on a rotating basis?) so that I can get some writing done! I can do it! I've got a novel to write!