Why is it so hard sometimes? To sit down and just write? One page. One sentence! My kids are both on school vacation. I have the son home from college and the daughter on high school break. Still, they sleep practically all day and they’re old enough to amuse themselves. So why am I behind in my writing?
Yesterday my writing day was what my kids might call an “epic fail.” Here’s my day yesterday (generally):
7 a.m. Wake up to make my sweet Mr. Right his lunch to take to work… oh, I normally don’t do such lovey wifey things, but we’re on a special diet for ten days to curb our sugar cravings (he really doesn’t have any, but I’m a Sweets fiend) and he needs the help with what he can and can’t eat, so I’m making his lunch this week. 7 a.m. might sound early, but it’s a luxury next to the non-school vacation 6 a.m. (or 5:30) Anyway- Mr. Right said he has the hang of it and doesn’t need me, so I take luxury one step further and proceed to sleep until…
9:22 a.m. Holy smokes! Have I really slept past nine? I make and eat my breakfast (spoon size shredded wheat and nonfat milk. I think fondly of frosted mini wheats as I crunch the plain unsweetened version… so yeah, day three, still craving sweets). Then I putter around doing the shower and dress thing. Dress, meaning trade pajama sweats for velour track suit sweats (very official writing uniform, thank you).
10:22 a.m. Fire up laptop and check email, notice that one of my Facebook friends has posted pictures of our middle school trip to New York City. OMG! Look at us with our feathered 80s hair! We’re all so young. Hysterical! 
Can you find me? I’m sitting, in the second row from the top, right hand side (kind of next to but lower than a girl in a pink jacket, or two up from the guy in the green jacket on the bottom row, right), and I’m sporting a blonde feathered *gasp* mullet. Yes, proof of a former bad hairdo.
10:42 a.m. Look at that fresh white new blank page. I could fill that up with words in no time flat, couldn’t I? So of course, there’s time to check Twitter. I might be missing out on some world crisis. Twitter, my latest source for breaking news. Or gossip, whatever. Oh-oh… read something that made me get caught up with trying to prove something, that I know I have in my old email, but shouldn’t really bother with and before I know it, I’ve been reading email from 2004-2005 for over an hour.
11:55 a.m. And while I’m at it, I might as well update a few things on my website.
12:25 p.m. And my dogs really have to go. Time for a walk.
1:00 p.m. Lunch or gym? Lunch or gym? Lunch now, gym later. Get distracted catching up with my now-awake kids. We watch a little Sesame Street (yes, Sesame Street) during lunch (whole wheat/flax wrap filled with hummus, black beans, spinach, and red peppers). Daughter is indignant that Elmo commands so much attention. We decide that Baby Bear could use a little speech therapy. Herry Monster works out with barbells and reminds me that I 
should be exercising… oh yeah. Maybe I should have done gym, then lunch. Darn that Herry Monster and his guilt-mongering.
2:00 p.m. Back to work. Blank page. Blank page needs words. Aha, but first I need to research a few things. Researching is always tricky because one interesting fact leads to another and while you started out looking up opera glasses, you end up inexplicably on Napolean Bonaparte’s wikipedia page. Was he really that short? Did he have a complex? When did they actually start using “Napolean Complex” to describe short, domineering men?
2:30 p.m. Heading to the kitchen for more green tea, I notice there’s still snow on the driveway. I should probably go shovel snow. And then I won’t need to drive to the gym! Brilliant!
3:00 p.m. Driveway big. Snow heavy (not that big, not that heavy, but just go along with me as I return indoors to dramatically collapse on the couch).
3:10 p.m. Wow, the living room is messy. I have new living room furniture coming on Friday. Maybe I should clean?
3:30 p.m. Mr. Right calls, on his way home. Needs some phone numbers that he left at home. Wants me to pick him up at the garage. He’s bringing his car in for some minor repairs. Quick, time to trade very official writing uniform for clothes that can be seen in public!
4:00 p.m My daughter declares her jeans too big and her jacket not sufficient for a weekend in NYC (she’s going with her friends, staying with her best friend’s mom in best friend’s grandfather’s uptown digs). Mom takes daughter shopping, and three hellish hours later…
7:00 p.m. Still have to make dinner. (pork tenderloin with steamed green beans and brown rice). Then watch Olympics (USA! I’m so patriotic). And oh yeah, tomorrow’s my day to blog at the Whine Sisters. But first, maybe one last game of Freecell.
10:28 p.m. The blank page beckons. Now that I’m good and tired and ready for bed, is that inspiration striking? Have I found words? Eureka! Maybe I can get in a few pages before bed. Bed. What a lovely sounding word. Pillows. Also good. I wonder who first came up with that silly joke, “Last night I dreamed I ate a 5 lb Marshmallow. And when I woke up, my pillow was gone!” This calls for research. Or… marshmallows! Yum…
What’s your favorite distraction? How do you avoid getting hopelessly sidetracked? Are you a morning person, or a night owl? Do you think I can make it through seven more days without anything sweet (not even diet coke! or sweetener in my tea!), and will it curb my sweet cravings for good?
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Internet is the worst thing that ever happened as far as I’m concerned. I waste more time on it than anything. Like now.
Ditto. I’ve been working very hard to limit ‘screen’ time so finite chunks. Love facebook scrabble. Sigh.
I play Lexulous with Mr. Right. He always beats me. It’s very discouraging, so of course I keep going back for more.
Lexulous? Hmmm…. I feel like cookie monster spotting a new cooookie.
Talk about distractions. Just finished a phone interview with USA Today’s Carol Memmott on Jane Slayre and literary mash-ups. Now I’m so excited I can’t think straight to write. This is better than a sugar high. It hits stands next Thursday or the week after.
WOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOO!!! That is so awesome!
Favorite distraction? Try any distraction! It’s amazing how much laundry I get done trying to write. (of course then deadline mania hits and the house goes to pot!). I’m a night person trying to be a morning person because I get TONS done when I actually get up earlier. Have made don wake me up at 6 for the las two days. (painful as I have insomnia and deadlines and was staying up to 3). What makes a habit? 15 days? Only 13 to go!!!
And good luck with no sugar!
Yeah, 6 is no fun when it’s still dark outside. But I do get so much more done when I wake up early and get cracking.
LOL about laundry. When I clean the bathroom, I know I’ve reached my pinnicle of procrastination.
I guess the sad fact is that there is always something to do besides writing. Even for those of us who rely on it for a living. But if you love something enough, want something enough, or need to make deadlines to pay bills, you make the time. The moral of my epic fail day is “Don’t go to bed with a blank page.” I wrote a few paragraphs before I got too sleepy. Of course, when I read them back today, I decided they were all crap. Such is life.
A crappy paragraph can be fixed! And chances are, you have to rewrite anyway, so technically, that’s 50% work done. (I used to be in management
)
JK started me on the post-it note thing. I write ’100 words’ ’200 words’ etc on post-it notes, and then wad them up when goals are reached. Much easier to handle 100 words than XX pages…
Most crappy paragraphs can be fixed. At least, enough to make one fine sentence. I think I’ll go buy some post-it notes. Or, when I get back to the store, I will… otherwise, that would be courting distraction.
You should try it! Much fun.
Loved your blog, Sherri–SOOOO relatable! I start on one thing, see another that needs to be done, then another, then the next thing I know, it’s 4 pm and the page is still blank. Right now my biggest distraction is the Olympics. Why, oh why do I have to have a deadline during the Olympics??
The Olympics is a huge distraction. Men’s Free Skate tonight! Go, Lysacek! For the record, I never turned to the marshmallows last night. Safely avoided them.
And women’s half pipe. So cool. And go Even!
I definitely think you can make it seven more days without sweetener. You can do it. You are Whiner! You know, life is a distraction. I’ve often wondered how much of a female experience it is to just feel like there’s so much to do and not enough time. I’m not trying to diss on the guys, but observation makes me think more often than not that women in particular are trying to cram a whole lot of living into a very tiny space.
Thanks, KC. And then it’s fruit. No cake. No candy. No crap. I have serious doubts that this ten days will curb my cravings. But it’s working out so far.
I agree. I don’t think guys feel the need to fill so many roles in one day.
You can do it!
Welcome to my world (well this week it’s all about colleges) but normally….Anyway, dude, your hair is awesome although not sure it could have competed with my Dorothy Hamil. So… TV is my fav distraction, internet can lead to lost time, NIGHT OWL, If I can have carbs I’m fine. But can live without sweets — unless wine counts?
Wine counts. No wine. No fruit. Nothing with any kind of natural sugars, or artificial sweetener. For ten days.
But the college tour thing is awesome. Your daughter gets to see all those great schools (some are also on my daughter’s list) and decide. Fun times!
Hope the college hunt is going well. I’m taking notes.
Fabulous. except we’d have to hit the lottery to be able to pay for some of them. But oh my gosh, I want to go back to college.
I get these emails from Columbia and I think…. gee, it sounds like so much fun now!! And then I wake up from the dream and remember that I never thought class was fun. Only the other stuff.
I just want to add that I woke up and got to work by 7:30 this morning. Determined not to get distracted. For now.
And yet here you are
.
So true, Julie. So true.
It’s like one of those escher drawings. Writing about distractions…. Is it writing, or is it a distraction??? Must ponder.