Confessions of a Busy Soul

Hello all you great people out there. Did you have a good week? I hope it brought you much good. Today I am talking distractions, a writer’s nemesis. Okay not just a writer’s issue; most of us out there love and hate a good distraction. What’s your worst distraction in life? Mine is the blinking phone distraction.

I sit down to write: balance my Sony Vaio in my lap, carefully place my phone next to me and open my Word document or my website to write the next great blog post. A few words later my eyes begin to wonder to my phone. Blink, blink, blink… red, blue, green, yellow… blink, blink, blink… could it be a tweet… blink, blink… Facebook message… blink… better just check… with fast fingers I type my password in and quickly swipe my phone down to check my notifications relief washing over me. Now I know who or what is trying to reach me. Okay… lock my screen, place my phone down. Returning my attention to my work, I type away and then once again my mind is begins to wonder- my eyes return to my phone: blink, blink, blink. Oh no… the blinking phone light distraction strikes again. I know what you’re thinking why don’t I just put my phone out of my reach and then I won’ t be distracted. BUT, imagine what I would miss out on!

In saying that, I am not a person completely obsessed by my phone. I can put it away when I go out for dinner or when I’m visiting with family or friends. I don’t understand people who go out for a nice dinner together but spend the whole time on their phones. The world is passing them by and the whole point of spending time together is wasted. So that isn’t an issue for me, but when it comes down to sitting down to write I need that out, that distraction.

In thinking about this further, maybe it really isn’t a distraction so much as multitasking. Yeah, yeah, multitasking… I mean every good writer has to be able to tweet to their followers while writing their next great novel, right? It’s all about being accessible to people. Yeah, accessibility. Okay maybe there is a fault in my logic but I never miss deadlines even with the blinking distractions. I haven’t once miss a week’s blog post since I committed myself to this. Once I dedicate myself to something I follow through; powering through the blinking light phone distractions all the while because I don’t want to miss anything happening in the moment. I have fallen prey to our instant gratification society. We want everything right now: communication, connections, information- immediately. People are posting tweets, photos, status updates one minute after the next and in this busy life, that is how we stay connected to what’s going on in each other’s lives.

Speaking of being connected, sadly I will be away from any internet connection this weekend… yes… there is sweat already collecting on my brow from the withdrawal syndrome setting in. We are going on a family vacation to a remote location without internet. Yes places without modern technology still exist! When the disconnection from the world is too much to bear, I will find try to find Starbucks close by to check in when I can. So please, comment, tweet, email me over the weekend and I will respond to you as soon as I return to civilization.

Until then, have a very happy weekend and thank you again for taking the time to read. Be sure to come back next week because I’ll be posting some of my poetry. I can’t wait for you to read my work and to hear your thoughts.
❤ Melissa