Distractions, Distractions

For the writer, distractions come in all shapes, sizes, and sounds. From food, to TV, to the fine art of relieving oneself. Not a day goes by without at least a dozen distractions pulling the writer away from the written page, or in my case, the unwritten page. The phone rings, the dog barks, Grandma Gertrude comes over for a visit, the neighbor is mowing the lawn, the aroma of fresh, hot apple pie drifts through the door crack. How can a writer deal with such distractions? Short of locking oneself in a small, white-walled, soundproofed, square room with pad and pencil, the “educated” writer must learn to use the distractions to his or her advantage.

There is a knock on the door. The “educated” writer will use this moment to contemplate who could be standing behind the door. A shady neighbor from down the street collecting donations to a phony charity. Perhaps this neighbor has a debt to settle with a loan shark and is desperate for cash. He needs to “raise” two-thousand clams by nightfall or he’s history.

Aha! That would make a great character in a novel about a single dad trying to prove his ability to raise four children to a demanding social worker . His wife had died two years ago. He lost his job shortly after that and has been gambling away what little money he had left. He managed to win a few pots in some high stakes poker games, but his luck has recently turned. Now with no money and no other choice, he turns to the streets for help.

Quickly, the “educated” writer jots down the notes then answers the door. It turns out to be an elderly woman who had the wrong apartment number. The “educated” writer gracefully accepts her apology and returns to the keyboard. With a moment’s thought, the “educated” writer wonders, what if the elderly woman did have the correct apartment? Perhaps the middle-aged man who answered the door abducted the friend she thought lived in the apartment. He only pretended she had the wrong apartment so he could get rid of the body without any witnesses. Again, the “educated” writer jots some notes. That scenario may not work in the current work in progress, but it might play well in a future piece.

With a question and a few thoughts, the “educated” writer used the distraction to his advantage, weaving a simple knock at the door into a well-rounded character and the elderly woman’s mistake into a suspenseful scene. The same can be done whenever the phone rings or dinner is calling. Ask a question. Contemplate the situation. Let your imagination run wild. Scribble some notes and you’ll be well on your way to defeating those annoying distractions.