Favorite writing distractions

Because that novel isn't going to delay itself
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abc
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Favorite writing distractions

Post by abc » December 10th, 2009, 10:22 am

When you sit down and try to write, but instead you:

Go to the gossip blogs
Delete all those emails from your inbox
Make a grocery list
Make a list of all the things you would do if you won the lottery
Get recipes to make for further distraction
Make 3 page to do list
Look at all the sad looking children that need sponsoring at World Vision
Check the websites of your local animal shelters to see what cats and dogs you would adopt if you could (ie, your husband let you)
Window shopping (I like to actually put things in the cart only to later remove them all) at your favorite online stores
Do things like write meaningless posts on forums

More ideas?

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abc
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by abc » December 10th, 2009, 10:23 am

Although perhaps I should have put this under the procrastination heading. I'm such a forum virgin!

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Hillsy
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Hillsy » December 10th, 2009, 10:24 am

....Play World of Warcraft?

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shadow
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by shadow » December 10th, 2009, 11:22 am

Yes, this happens to me all the time. sigh. One example is going on this forum when I planned to write :O
All things writing, visit my blog http://arielemerald.blogspot.com/

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Nathan Bransford
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Nathan Bransford » December 10th, 2009, 12:08 pm

Moved this over to the procrastination section.

My favorite distraction is sports.

Joel Q
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Joel Q » December 10th, 2009, 12:17 pm

Distractions...

Summer...camping, fishing and hiking.

Fall... fishing and NCAA Football.

Winter... sledding and skiing.

Spring... fishing and hiking

But there is also, critique group pages to read, books to read and Twitter.

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Mira
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Mira » December 10th, 2009, 12:47 pm

What a fun question. Distracts me from.....something. :)

Computer games. They work really well as a distraction, because when you sit down to write, there they are. I highly recommend them. :)

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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by kristi » December 10th, 2009, 3:06 pm

Reading blogs and researching agents are my top 2 writing-related distractions. I'd say NFL football but my team is so horrible this year that I consider it more self-torture than a distraction. Also, playing Mario Party w/ the hubby and kids although my hubby shows no mercy :)

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Emily White
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Emily White » December 10th, 2009, 6:43 pm

CIV. I. Love. CIV. Unfortunately, it tends to be a three hour distraction. :o
Find out about ELEMENTAL, my YA Space Opera (available June 21, 2011) on my blog and ELEMENTAL's facebook fan page

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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Nick » December 10th, 2009, 6:51 pm

-Watch reruns of/catch-up on any other show I feel like watching
-Liverpool games. I will only ever miss a game if I am dead.
-Talking to friends on MSN
-Re-loading Facebook every two seconds to see if anyone's done anything
-Play video games
-Hang out with friends
-Go on one of the (now three) forums I'm a member of

would be the voluntary distractions, and then added to that are school and my friends forcing me to drive them places, the latter of which generally turns into #6 after about an hour. Usually though they aren't really distractions so much as the creative parts of my brain are running on E, and they're the little backwoods gas station with the creepy old guy who's idly doing a bit of chew behind the counter.

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marilyn peake
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by marilyn peake » December 10th, 2009, 8:06 pm

I take lots of scheduled time off from writing, but major distractions for me while I’m actually sitting at my computer trying to write ... that would be surfing the Internet, and chatting in blogs and forums. :)
Marilyn Peake

Novels: THE FISHERMAN’S SON TRILOGY and GODS IN THE MACHINE. Numerous short stories. Contributor to BOOK: THE SEQUEL. Editor of several additional books. Awards include Silver Award, 2007 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards.

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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Harper Karcz » December 10th, 2009, 9:02 pm

I read Twitter. I don't usually read it during my workday, so when I get home I usually have a couple of pages of tweets to read. Since I follow a lot of authors, agents, and other industry folk, I can rationalize this away as "learning about the publishing industry." But then I have to remind myself that I'm never going to BE a part of the publishing industry if I don't stop messing around on Twitter and get back to my revisions...

My other bad procrastination device is YouTube. I love watching old Broadway videos, music videos, clips from '80s kids TV shows, old commercials, etc. Goodbye, many hours of my life...
Having just the vision's no solution
Everything depends on execution.

-- Stephen Sondheim

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Laurie Lamb
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Laurie Lamb » December 11th, 2009, 1:08 pm

I love playing word games like boggle and scrabble but my favourite distractions are my two sons. They're great distractions because they're so much fun and they give me so many ideas.
Last edited by Laurie Lamb on December 14th, 2009, 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Heather Bahnard
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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Heather Bahnard » December 11th, 2009, 8:50 pm

Soooo many!
-Facebook
-"Friends" marathons (this applies to many TV shows but this my current favorite)
-surfing net
-reading emails
-getting into debates in chat rooms
-watching QVC or any cooking program....Okay I could go on forever, so I am going to end it here and get back to work.

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Re: Favorite writing distractions

Post by Wandaduplooy » December 13th, 2009, 9:12 am

Lets see :
the obvious ones - day job and living and then facebook, updating my blog and research. This blog is a big distraction...

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