I have commenced writing at a significant pace! This is very good and very exciting for me. With the kids pretty much grown and gone, I have no excuse not to get some real work done.
There is still the house. But that’s just a matter of balance.
What I do have is a wide variety of delicious distractions and a hearty helping of ADHD.
I’ve been watching the Joyce Carol Oates Masterclass, which has been pretty good so far. She talked about how interruptions and distractions can ruin the creative process, and that bit had me looking like the monkey puppet meme.
The other day while I was working on the laptop, I ordered stuff from Target, looked at Discord, and scrolled instagram and Reddit for a significant period of time. I also likely had to deal with Ham in some way, for he is a wild creature with PICA, and he likes to eat plastic and clothing.
How the heck did I get anything done?
Of course, Joyce (we’re on a first-name basis now) was like shut thyself in an office. Ok, fancy lady. I don’t have a closed office. There are places I could close a door behind me but not really an office.
I have a pretty library about half a mile away that could do nicely, but I don’t know if they’ll let me have snacks and beverages. I’ll probably still give it a go.
Another thing I should do is not write on the laptop. It’s the easiest electronic thingy I have to type on, but it’s also the easiest to open another tab and go shopping or research random thoughts or questions that pop up in my brain that have nothing to do with writing.
The ipad isn’t quite as easy to do that with, so I’m thinking that should be my go-to.
As for the presence of my phone…I would basically need another human to forcibly remove it from the premises.
The good news is that, despite my unreliable attention span, I have been getting some writing done! I’m over 5000 words into the Leviathan project, and 3 of 4 chapters have been through one round of revisions. So yay me! Now imagine a world in which I actually pay attention. lol
Moving forward, I am going to be more conscious of my distractions. Library office time is in my future.
Upcoming stuff: Flash fiction post tomorrow and a possible signed print copy giveaway (next week?) if I can figure out how to work it.
Professional Stringer of Words 
Yay for getting stuff done! My biggest time suck is allowing myself to go down the YouTube rabbit hole. I’ve considered writing long hand like Neil Gaiman does (another excellent master class.) I used to write on this keyboard thing called an alpha smart. Maybe I should get back to that. Best of luck to you!
A lot of people seem to like writing in long hand. I’m just worried I wouldn’t have the patience to copy it into the computer, and then I’d just drown in paper. 😄 I definitely see the appeal, though.