Distractions Please!

Keeping myself on task, while writing Love Is the New Currency, has proven to be more challenging than I had expected.  I’d heard the timeframes, of course – that it took many years to write a book – but I couldn’t imagine it!  The messages I had to share were so important that I didn’t really think I would be dealing with the dreaded “writer’s block”.  Besides, my self-imposed deadline had been to write it in less than two years, and I was closing in on that date.

I put in numerous 10 hour days, hunched over my lap top, in an effort to get the book out by the holidays. Thankfully, a friend sat me down and told me natural childbirth was a much better way to go! I got the message. It will now launch in early 2011.

And so, while it has been less stressful, it is even more difficult to keep to a schedule. It’s a wonder that I haven’t put on at least ten pounds working on this book!

Stuck on a sentence?  No problem – a trip to the refrigerator will probably help.  Today ice cream with hot fudge sauce and fresh raspberries was the choice du jour, but feeling healthy and, perhaps a little guilty, parmesan cheese was the uninspired selection.

Shortly after (was it really only fifteen minutes?), I’m headed back for the tastier, more decadent guilt trip.

And then in desperation, I notice the dust on the furniture.  Now THAT needs my immediate attention!

For a little variety, I actually spent an hour cleaning out my garage the other day – as a break.

Need to rewrite a chapter? It usually takes a series of distractions, sucking up creative energy that could have gone into the revision.  There are the obvious ones, of emails and phone calls to be answered, bathroom breaks and time for naps to refresh the brain.  But there is the danger of the fifteen minute naps turning into an hour – and then it takes that long again to get one’s mind out of a groggy state.  Too late!

You, the reader, are turning out to be the best distraction of all….something for the blog, which I haven’t even created yet….but it’s fun thinking about.

Writing this book is an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It is such a joy to be invited into people’s lives, and to write about something that touches me so deeply. I am honored to receive people’s heart-centered stories and compelled to write about and share each one.  I am committed to sharing this gift soon…even as I continue this magical journey from one loving heart to another.

It’s hard to know when to stop…just like an artist who has to know when to make the last stroke.   And I’ve decided to continue collecting and writing stories… so please keep sharing your loving experiences and acts of kindness.  The second book of the series is already in the inception stage.

Okay.  It’s back to the fifth edit of a story.  No problem…until the next one and the next.

Maybe I should make a trip to the market for some more good snacks and to replenish the ice cream that I just devoured.

Ciao!
Linda

p.s. Please send me your favorite distractions.  I need some fresh ideas!