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Breaking through Distractions While Writing

Here's the scenario: you have a project and a deadline. Then wham! You find out your live-in lover of two years is seeing someone else. The wedding bells are now ringing like a death knoll. And your project? It gets dumped just like you did.

Is that fair? Maybe not. But it happens. People come and go in our lives, for a myriad of reasons. Yet as writers, we have to continue on our creative journey. And more importantly, the deadline is nearing. The emotional distraction didn't give a flip about you but your writing does.

But how do you get over the drama and still keep pressing on when your mind is being torn apart like a game of tug of war?

Here are four quick and fool-proof ways to work through any emotional distraction when writing is your mission but life has other ideas:

1) Write about your feelings thoughts and emotions in the 3rd person. Like you're talking about another couple. Many revealing discoveries may surface.

2) Write a journal entry, but from your best friend's or family's point of view.

3) Write from your pet's point of view. If it's a cat or a dog (I have two cats), you've got a veritable gold mine, but don't discount your goldfish's observations, either.

4) Then go back and finish that project.

My mother once told me (and of course, this is a no-no cliché, but I still like it), that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. We don't always get to choose which. But we can choose what we do with the experience.

The answer is as transparent as Gladwrap: we write about it. I always say experience and the changes in our lives, if nothing else, make for good fiction.

Nancy Padron is a freelance editor, writing & life coach. Her work has been published in numerous national magazines. She is one of the most sought-after freelance editors in the nation. For more information on how to break through writing blocks and finishing that project, contact NancyMPadron@yahoo.com The first 50 authors to respond will receive a free workshop lesson. A $50 value.

Labels: book editing, Nancy Padron, writing