Minefield of Distractions

Here's a secret... writing isn't always an easy flow. Some days it's a damn hard slog. And lately it's been the latter.

I've read enough about writing to now that I can't just write when inspiration strikes or when I feel like writing. Nope... writing means rigid self-discipline and sitting down at the keyboard each and every day and... writing. Even if nothing comes out... which is insanely frustrating... it's to just sit here and stare at a blank screen then. Eventually boredom will strike and I'll just start typing something, anything and... usually something cohesive comes out.

The trick is... stay focused because, honestly, there are sooo many distractions around! And my monkey mind just swings from one to the other at dizzying speed. Here's just a few that have gone by in the last 10 minutes:

• I should charge my iPod because I'm going to need that later this morning and I know the battery is drained... (I plugged it in)
• Oh, the phone just rang, let me get that... oh, my partner got it already...
• Crews digging up our street for water main replacement (watching trucks go by)
• Cat coming for cuddles (She wants here when I wrote that but... 2 minutes later... she's here... and wants to watch bird videos on this computer monitor - and yes, I could choose to close the door and shut her out and then listen to her pawing at the door but... today I chose not to. Sigh.)
• Piece of paper on my computer desk that should get filed (it's still sitting there)
• Desk that needs to get tidied up (not right now)
• Check the news to see if anything new has happened in the last 10 minutes (maybe there's inspiration for writing something?)
• Check my credit card statement to see if PC Express refunded me for the overcharge on a 600 gram chunk of daikon radish which got weighed in at over 10 kg (seriously - and no refund yet, after 2 weeks)
• Bird on a Wire outside my window (hummingbird - gone now)
• Partner calling out from kitchen and asking if that is rain outside (it might be)
• Trying to decide on the perfect writing music (YouTube cafe jazz not working...)
• Check email and debate whether to answer a few (nope...)
• Maybe I should have a shower and inspiration will strike (maybe, but then I won't be writing)
• Cat is shedding a lot, maybe I should look for the ZoomGroom brush and give her a grooming so I don't get cat hair stuck in my keyboard (not sure where ZoomGroom is...) 
• I could look for better music on YouTube but then there is always the deadly distraction of... gasp... cat videos!
• I need an image to go with this blog (Got sucked into Google searching for a "distraction" image to insert into this blog and then reading a few blogs about distraction... sigh.)
• Oooh... that image looks interesting... I wonder what a distraction journal is! (clicked on link and read about a distraction journal...)

And so it goes... not to mention all the other random thoughts that come into my head. About anything and everything... none of which is writing. But writing, like many things is one small step after another... Some days the small steps are easy and it all feels like a downhill run with the words falling on top of each other, faster than I can get them out through my fingers. Other days, it's an uphill slog and every word feels like a herculean effort. Not to mention forming coherent sentences.

I know that some of this is pandemic-related. It's hard to be productive and creative when there's so much scary news out there. I've made various resolutions over the past few weeks to stay off of the news sites (CBC, CTV, BBC, CNN) and Facebook and that lasts for all of one or two days and then... I'm back. I keep getting sucked into the trap of news consumption and that makes it harder for me to clear my head space and engage in some creative writing.

I also know that our minds love shiny new things and when I'm sitting here, in discomfort because the words aren't flowing, my mind is going to quickly try and swing to something shiny and/or new and/or easy...  like tidying my desk or... well... anything...

But, today, I managed to tiptoe through the minefield of distractions and emerge, more or less unscathed with some writing to show for it... albeit covered in cat hair and wondering if a distraction journal would help me...