There’s a trick I use when I’m writing. I’m sure I read about it somewhere and adopted it, but it’s worked pretty well for me so far. If I’m on a roll, and I’ve got a fair bit of writing done, and a good feeling about where I’m going (hey, all those things happen sometimes), I’ll stop mid sentence.

Don’t get to the end of a scene, chapter, or paragraph. If I stop mid flow, I find it easier to get going again.

However, I opened up a document a few days ago to do some work on it, and this is what I find waiting for me:

THOMAS (V.O.)

That warm feeling flushing through me. Maybe that’s love?

He starts to type.

As he types, his Mum comes in, then everything speeds up.

THOMAS (V.O.)

…..

AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE V.O. WAS GOING TO BE.

In my defence, it’s my fault for not thinking about this script for six months. That’s not a great defence, is it…

But instead of struggle with it, get pissy like I would have probably a couple years ago, I just deleted up to a point I knew I could continue writing from, then kept going. Now, I could probably stop this sort of problem if I wrote an outline or treatment before setting out to do the script. Or, you know, work on something until it’s completely finished. But that’s just not the way I write. It would be great if it was, but it’s not.

Sometimes, it’s a struggle. Sometimes, I just look at a blank screen, or a semi-filled one, and just wonder what’s the point? Why am I sitting down and doing something I don’t like? But the problem is, I’m lying to myself. I DO like to write. Pretty sure I’ve mentioned it once or twice, but I find it cathartic. I’m just easily distractable.

Which can be a good thing. For instance, I was at the Barcelona airport today, with a six hour wait for a flight. If you’ve been there, there’s not a whole lot to do there. And I had a document open, that I just wasn’t focussing on. I’d maybe write a sentence or two, then start seeing what was in the news, or looking up stocks, arranging appointments (read that last sentence and I sound like a fully functioning adult). But something in one of the articles caught my eye, set things in motion, and half an hour later I’d written a short story. It might turn into something more, who knows, but for now it was the distraction that 1. Gave me a completely different idea from what I was working on, and 2. Made me feel more like going back to what I had been working on, and chipping away at that.

So yeah, turns out distracting myself is part of my process. If anyone needs me, I’ll be distracting myself. Not a euphemism.