WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 24 -- Thursday

[linaewen]

Hello on Thursday!  What kind of a writing day are you having today?

• I thought about my fic once or twice
• I wrote
• I did some planning and/or research
• I edited
• I've sent my fic off to my beta
• I posted today!
• I'm taking a break
• I had other plans

We've been talking lately about dealing with our writing when we get out of a routine, and that seems to lead naturally into how we go about dealing with distractions (something I'm personally having trouble with at the moment!).  Do you ever run into the following problem?

 

 

For discussion -- How easy is it for you to get side-tracked when you are determined to write?  What kinds of things to you find yourself doing instead of writing?  Do you have any advice for those of us who have trouble with procrastinating and getting distracted?

Comments

[linaewen]

Yesterday was unexpectedly impossible for anything other than dealing with the unexpected, so I didn't get time to write, and by the time I had time, I had no inclination to do anything but vegetate. ;-) Here's hoping today is not another similar day. My intention for today is to open Word with determination -- if I don't get distracted!

I am very easily side-tracked when I am trying to get going with my writing, which often results in nothing happening during the day. Once I persevere and get some writing under my belt, I can usually stick to it and distractions are no longer enticing. I think most of my problem is due to being tired after work and my brain really isn't ready to take on anything complicated, so I allow myself to get distracted by surfing the net, reading fic, playing computer games, instead of forcing myself to get going with writing.

[lilly_c]

I've had to do other things today, including the final prep for my job interview in the morning, that's a bit more important. Although there's a few hours left for me to write, I'll likely go to AO3 and read for a bit.

I get distracted very easily, usually by iTunes and that's why I have the radio on when I write, before I uninstalled it I'd open photoshop and play in that hours. When I used to have a TV I'd channel hop rather than doing any work. Can't think of any advice though.

[sharpiefan]

If it's not Mahjong titians (lovely game... addicitve as all get-out!) it's Spider solitaire. Or reading my flist. Or RPing. Or - these days! - thinking about vidding. Or joining in a discussion on a forum, or two. or refreshing my flist. Or getting a coffee. Or...

Yeah; it's really really easy to get distracted! Annoyingly easy. I have a bunch of WIPs open ready for me to post to, but none of them have been posted to in a while.

[emothy]

It's like looking into a mirror... if I were a panda!

I'm also terrible for distractions - I will literally go and refresh a page I refreshed two minutes ago that I know full well won't change much within an hour or so XD I'll also play any game around, read anything, get up and wander around the house...

I've disconnected the internet before to stop me from getting distracted, and closed out every single other program except a plain notepad document with no frills and bows like formatting to mess around with. And even then I'll go back over anything I've already written to check I'm happy with sentences, and where the commas are placed XD

I think if you're not enthusiastic about the fanfic you're working on you're more likely to allow yourself to get distracted, so I guess it might be an idea to assess why you've lost steam for something when that's the problem? If working out the kinks takes time at least it's time that will eventually get you back on track!

[barbayat]

I get sidetracked by almost everything, the wrong song, no background noises, the wrong background noises. I costs me time but I do manage to pull through and get down to writing so far this year ....

[the_rck]

I wrote, but it was relatively late in the day, so I'd lost track of this entry. If I can just maintain my momentum, I can finish this story by the end of the month.

I get distracted by playing solitaire. I need to do it a bit because the break can help me think. The problem is when I keep going, "Just one more game," and find that the whole afternoon has disappeared.