What Stops You From Writing?
Posted on 09 October 2007 by Sharon
Freelance writers and ghostwriters often have to write while coping with all sorts of disturbing circumstances. For example, I have worked my way through:
- an annoying scraping noise as my neighbours rebuilt their wall
- drilling next to my office when the builders tried to repair something they should have got right in the first place
- plumbers and electricians asking me questions
- excavation as the golf course opposite decided to lay the foundation for some new apartments
- thunder and lightning when the last hurricane was threatening to hit
- screaming children next door (not mine)
- loud music from someone’s car radio (the car was parked opposite our house)
In all those cases, I’ve kept writing because I had to. I had deadlines to meet and just because there was unbearable noise in the vicinity was no reason to miss them. The things that stop me from writing tend to be more subtle. These are things that stop the creative flow, such as:
- worrying about an illness in the family
- wondering whether a particular client will pay on time
- concern about whether a member of the team will deliver on time
- my mind wandering to planning family occasions when I ought to be working (both my husband and daughter have birthdays in the next month)
In other words, I find it difficult to write when my brain is focusing on something else. What stops you from writing? How do you manage to concentrate through adverse circumstances?
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Tags | freelance writing, get paid to write, ghostwriting, writing
October 9th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Just you keep focusing on organising my birthday and our daughter’s birthday and then you can get back to writing.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Lol; see what happens when you give family members your blog address!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
LOL! Doesn’t that mean he will get a cheaper present though? More writing = more dosh!
I have a hard time with distractions too. Some nights my husband plays with the kids to try to give me space to work but they all create such a racket that I can’t work anyway, haha.
It can be tricky sometimes and sometimes I can just tune everything out but then I find myself agreeing to things unknowingly with my husband and my kids :S
Dana
October 9th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
You said it, Dana!
Tuning out is an occupational hazard; then you find you have no idea what was said - and bluffing doesn’t always work 
October 9th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
For dealing with the noises around me, I use earplugs.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
There are SO MANY things that can get to be distraction. For me, the biggest is probably the rejection letters that come in from time to time — the discouragement can get you down, if you let it.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Earplugs are a great idea, Misti. I found these neat silicon ones that are used for swimmers - maybe those would work.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Rejection can be distracting, Shelly, but I guess you have to ride it and move on.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:44 am
What stops me from writing? All the writing work I have to do. I’m a full time freelancer, so when it comes to writing anything for myself I have loads of great ideas, but no drive to sit in front of the computer any more.
When I was a waiter I wrote a lot more. Amazing what writing copy for niche sites will do to your creative urges. It also killed my academic writing style, which is a problem with my thesis being due in less than 2 weeks.
October 11th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Good luck with your thesis, Chase. I think many writers experience the difficulty of being able to do their own creative work. I have tried to solve that by having one day a week where my creative work comes first. It doesn’t work every week, but at least I make some progress.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
My family - kids bugging me every 2 minutes, husband putting on movies - that’s distracting so I can’t concentrate to keep the creative flow and momentum going. But I also get distracted by plotting; I love plotting and planning stories. It’s the actual writing them out part that’s hard for me to do. Then there’s also the fear that what I’m writing isn’t good enough.
Great question!
October 11th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I know what you mean, Quont. I am confident about non fiction writing, but it has taken me a long time to show my poetry and fiction to others. In the end I figured I had to get past the fear - maybe you will too.
October 13th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
My problem is that my mind works out absolutely everything that I want to write - all at once- and I can’t get it down on computer/paper fast enough. Therefore, it all gets jumbled, and, subsequently, I get frustrated and give up. The most I can actually accomplish is a poem or a very short story!
October 13th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I do better with short stories and poems than longer pieces, though I am ok with ebooks, perhaps because of the writing style.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Gosh, there are a number of things that can fry my brain so it’s hard to write. My Bipolar is one, a depression or manic episode will throw any idea of writing right out the window. Being tired doesn’t help either. My kids often put a spanner in the works. General stresses like financial or family worries etc. can all create a mess of mind that hinders my writing.
So far the only solution I’ve found is to set a solid chunk of time, put on my headphones, crank up so classical or celtic (lyricless) music and drown out the world. For some reason doing this allows me to focus enough to get an assignment done. But when it’s a struggle I do what is necessary and nothing more.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Sounds like you’ve got a good strategy, Rebecca. I used to work with music on; but now I often find it distracting, which is a real shame.