Despite my very best efforts, sometimes I am a bit of a distracted writer. I don’t mean to be, but sometimes there I am, happily writing away like I’m meant to be, and then something catches my eye, or I hear something, and boop, there I am a half hour later six layers deep in distractions. Maybe you can relate. In light of this, I thought that today I might share a little list of four things that have the power to distract me from the important work of writing pretty much every single time.
Notification Numbers
I’m not too fussed about reading notifications, though social media itself can be a distraction all of its own. But what I find really distracting is have that little number sitting at the top of my screen, going up slowly as the number of posts I haven’t seen on Twitter grows and grows. And it just sits there, staring at me, daring me to ignore it. It doesn’t really matter whether I want to scroll through those posts, or reply to that message, I just want to get rid of that annoying little number so that my mind can rest easy.
Dogs Doing Cute Things
So there I am, writing along, doing all the things a good writer is supposed to be doing. And then a dog walks into the room and lies down on the floor next to me, her head on my foot, and she lets out a deep sigh and looks up at me with mournful melty brown eyes and you know I’m going to drop everything and give her a tummy rub, or smooth down that adorable little face. I’m not a monster after all. And it’s pretty much a crime not to drop everything and give love and attention to the cute animals when they ask for it.
The Right Song Coming On
There are a few reasons why I almost never listen to songs with lyrics with while I’m writing, and almost all of these reasons have to do with the fact that once one comes on that I know, you know I’m going to drop everything and sing along with it. And I might have to replay it a few more times because I mean, a good song is practically a party on its own. One cannot easily resist the lure of the music. It’s only once the singalong has been completed that I can get back to what I’m meant to be doing. Which is why it’s so much safer for me to write to instrumentals.
The Promise Of Food
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but I love food. I would do almost anything for a plate full of hot chips, or may a couple of slices of pizza. Mm, I’m making myself hungry just thinking about. The only problem is that, as soon as it gets anywhere near a mealtime, or I think that someone is preparing food somewhere in the house, I am liable to drop everything and go in search of nice snacks for me to eat instead of staying put like a good little writer.
These are four things that will distract me pretty much every time, no matter how good a writer I am trying to be, or how much I actually want to be writing that day. I can’t help it. Sometimes the lure of a cute dog face is just too much. Do any of these things distract you from what you’re meant to be doing? What things will reliably distract you from your important work? Do you think it should be illegal to not give dogs the attention they so obviously deserve? Let’s chat about it in the comments!
It’s so true though! My dog rarely comes into my room where I write because it’s all the way on the top floor, and her window is on the ground floor, so when she does come, I must say hello! Though songs with lyrics don’t bother me as much as they used too. If I know the song well enough, and I’m deep enough into my writing, I can sing along and write something completely different at the same time. Yes, it takes practice. More often than not, I’m distracted by blog posts and Goodreads.