September 14, 2006 • Print This Post
I’m in Deadline Hell. In our house, this is not merely a state of my mind, but it’s a physical fact of life.
Not that I’m complaining. I love having deadlines. It means that someone wants to publish the books I love to write. What I don’t like are life’s little intrusions when I’m deep and hot and heavy into a book.
The phone rings and interrupts my train of thought. I check Caller ID and don’t recognize the number. My family complains that since I have Caller ID I’m never home. That’s why Voice Mail was invented, wasn’t it? Leave a message. I’m on deadline.
The phone rings again — within moments of the last call. Again, I don’t recognize the number so I ignore it. Not thirty seconds later, the phone rings for the third time. Now I’m seriously irritated.
“Hello?” I bark at the fool on the other end of the line.
I don’t get a person. I get a freaking recording from a department store in our area where we have a membership telling me about a furniture sale.
Still seriously irritated, I hang up and unplug the phone. I have Voice Mail, might as well put it to good use, right?
Because my concentration has been blown, I take a quick email break. Nothing exciting happening there. Go downstairs for a cup of coffee, come back and read the scene I’d been working on before being interrupted.
Ahhh, there’s the zone. Words flow from my fingertips once again, until…
Maybe forty minutes later, I suddenly hear a voice — and it’s not one of the voices in my head — calling up the stairs, “Are you hungry?” Which is usually code for “please cook something for me.”
“Not really,” I call back.
“I made chicken wraps. You sure you don’t want one?”
We had the stuff to make chicken wraps? Last time I looked, them cupboards were gettin’ mighty low on supplies.
Still, the thought of food I didn’t have to cook has my stomach grumbling. What a guy. After all the years of living with a working writer, he gets it.
Take another break, this time for sustenance. Can’t write on an empty stomach, right? Spend some quality time with the DH. Life is good.
After lunch, check email again. Nope. Nothing exciting there. Play a quick match of Mah Jong. Loose after three puzzles. Pffftttt.
Go back and read the same scene — again. Nothing. Voices quiet. That pair of socks I’m attempting to learn how to knit are suddenly very tempting.
Interruptions easily throw me off kilter. They pull me out of the zone, and some days, it’s a whole lot tougher than others to find it again. Depending on the interruption, a whole writing day can be lost if the zone continues to elude me. It never used to be this way for me, but I’m thinking our empty nest is partially to blame. I’m no longer used to have that one ear open at all times thing going for me now that there are no longer children under our roof.
What do you do when you get pulled out of your zone? Do you have any tried and true techniques for getting back into the flow of whatever project you’ve been working on?
Posted by Jamie Denton @ 6:00 am • Filed under: Jamie Denton
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Usually work gets in the way of life. LOL. I just try to clear my head of all the interruptions so I can get the annoyance out of the way. And then start up again to do whatever it was that I was doing.
If I get “pulled out of my zone” I tend to go blank. THEN, it’s a matter of making myself go back and finish the task. I don’t think I have any technique to go back to it. I guess I just decide yes or no. I don’t have any excuses now though, since my youngest started school and I’m alone for most of the day.
Take a 10 minute break, put my feet up and relax.
I have no recipe; like the others I just clear my head and start over.
Plenty of brakes! And hopefully some inspiration by eating cookies:grin:
Being able to concentrate on a project makes all the difference. When that is broken or you have to walk away from it I find it hard to get going again.
For me, when I’ve lost concentration on a project I just walk away for a little bit. I do something else and generally get back to it pretty quickly. I find that I can get back on track easier this way than if I try to force it.
Kathleen - I like your theory best. Cookies can be very inspirational:!:
Walk away for a bit and then come back and try again.
My strategy is to relax outside on my swing and enjoy the sunshine. I will go for a walk down my street just to get the blood circulating again after sitting so long.:smile::idea:
If I have the time I love to go shopping or cruise my favorite bookstore. This relaxes me and puts me back in my happy mood in no time flat!
Having a nice cold glass of homemade iced tea helps too!
When too many distractions get in the way, I take care of them, forget about them and then get on to the task at hand.:smile: