Me on Writing Distractions

so, to be a total nerd, i'm going to make a list of things that have distracted me from writing. these are all possible reasons why it's taken me this long to get to... (checking the Word file) 66,517 words and 268 pages.

wow, that sure is a lot.

okay, distractions, cause i meant to write this thing about half an hour ago. crap.

#1: the Internet

i love the internet. ever since i first experienced it in the fall of 1999, i've been entranced by its ability to feed me useless information. over those 11 years, it's evolved, as has my way of accessing the Internet (i love you, new laptop), but now it's become overwhelming. you can do everything over the Internet (mostly, as far as i know), and it has the ability of sucking my will to write straight out of me.

the subsections of Internet distractions are: e-mail, news websites, weather websites, Wikipedia, Twitter, Google, webcomics, and the list could go on for days.

#2: TV

this is a big distraction when i haul my laptop down to write in front of the TV, because then the bright flashy pictures grab my attention away from a white page with black text.

#3: Books

now, i love books. i recently bought a lot of books to read because i love reading books, but reading and writing can't necessarily happen at the same time (unless it's an audiobook, and even then it's tricksy). usually i'll use my awake time for writing, then read for a bit before i go to bed. sometimes i'll write and then conk out and the reading has to wait. sometimes, like today when i read Maggie Stiefvater's 'Linger' in the span of a few hours, reading takes over.

i'm not against reading, it's actually quite helpful, but you have to share time.

#4: Music

i lied, music isn't a distraction. searching for music to write to, however, is.

#5: Life in general

i used to loathe going to class, because that meant i had a bunch of the day ripped away from me, leaving me with fewer hours in which to write. now, it's more like housework and general house upkeep, but that time (used properly) is good for totally zoning out and thinking about what you want to write next, so keep a notebook handy when you're vacuuming the living room.

#6: ... ummm, is there a number 6?? Twitter could be number 6 all on its own.

oh, Twitter. how I love yet hate you so.