Goodbye Distractions, Hello Writing!

Everyone's lives are full of them - distractions.  From Twitter to Facebook; from cable news to the sitcoms I love.  It seems that there is always something interesting keeping me from my "To Do" list.  So, then I make a valiant effort to be more disciplined and stay on track, attacking that "To Do" list with a vengeance, feeling a huge thrill every time my pencil checks off another finished task.  But what about my other work?  My real work.  My writing.  Could it be that even my "To Do" list with its long list of emails to answer and letters to write and even blog posts to create is keeping me from my most important creative endeavor, the draft of my next middle grade novel?  Could it be that all of those tasks that are part of my job as an author, not only distract me from "doing" my writing, but also distract me from living a creative life so that I have the inspiration I need to create interesting characters and tell unique stories? 

I wish I could say I asked myself those thoughtful questions on my own, but I only began asking those questions after reading

Manage Your Day-to-Day:  Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind.

This book allowed me to step back and, not only evaluate my work, but also evaluate how I go about accomplishing that work each day.  After that evaluation, I realized how much I have let the distractions (even the author-related ones) stand in my way.  But in 2018, I plan to give my best energy and attention to my writing, saving the other tasks on my "To Do" list for later. 

So goodbye pesky, annoying, aggravating distractions and hello year of amazing, creative, fulfilling writing! 

Nancy J. Cavanaugh