Susan Juby: Traps for Writers

Being a writer is a wonderful thing. However, the path of the writer is strewn with distractions and dangers of all sorts. Here are two you should watch out for.

1. The Internet.
Here's how it starts. You're writing away after school in the time you've set aside. You're going strong. Onto something good. Then it occurs to you that you haven't checked your email in a while. So you stop mid-sentence and check your email. There's a message from your friend, who just posted a video of herself impersonating Céline Dion on Youtube. So you click through and watch. Then you discover that hundreds of other people have put up their Céline Dion impressions and you watch them all and you post links on your blog and Myspace page. Then your parents call you down for dinner and that's it. Céline Dion and the Internet have ruined your writing session.

2. The phone.
You're writing away one night. Burning the midnight oil, writing something quite powerful, and the phone rings. Ring! Ring! It's your friend, the Céline Dion impersonator. She's calling about the backless dress she just sewed for her next Youtube appearance. She's already called you six times to update you on her progress. "I cut out the pattern!" "I sewed a side seam!" "Did you know my dress is a size 0? JUST LIKE CÉLINE DION!" You pick up because you want to be sure that she hasn't had a serious sewing accident. It turns out she's calling to report that her boyfriend is getting weirded out by the Céline Dion thing. He doesn't find Ms. Dion that attractive and wishes your friend would imitate Gwen Stefani. Obviously he doesn't understand that Céline is an artist. A chanteuse! You talk her through it and when you finally get off the phone you realize it's midnight and your writing session is over.

I shut off my modum and turn off the phone when I write. What methods do you use to deal with distractions?

Susan Juby
Author of Another Kind of Cowboy, Alice, I Think, and Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last

www.susanjuby.com