Dealing With Unexpected and Unavoidable Distractions

My day was off to a great start! I woke up before 6:00 and had my schedule all planned out. It was the beginning of a busy week and I wanted to get as much writing done as I could on Monday, since I knew I wouldn't be able to later in the week.

I sat up in bed and stretched, then Gigi, our silky terrier, crawled over to cuddle with me. I let her snuggle for a while, and just before I was about to get up, I felt a small bump on her head. Cringing, I brushed her hair away from the little bump and found what I feared. A tick.

I grumbled as I found a tweezers and pulled it off. Then to be safe, I checked for more. It didn't take long to find another...and another...and another. (Yuck!) After the twelfth one, I will not lie when I say I was freaking out. I really can deal with most bugs...but ticks? They are disgusting little creatures who refuse to die! (Not to mention, they carry lime disease!)

After thoroughly checking Gigi, one more time, my sister, Leah, and I put Frontline treatment on her (apparently no one had done that this month...). We figured that Gigi had gotten the ticks from our backyard. We still had a lot of firewood that was still underneath the deck from the winter.

Well to make a long (and gross) story short, I found dead and alive ticks around the house all day. So instead of sending out emails and writing 5,000 words as I had planned...I spent the day flushing ticks down the toilet. To say I was not happy is an understatement.

When all of this was happening Leah tried to remind me that it could be a lot worse. At the time I didn't appreciate her telling me this, but when I look back now, I can't help but be very grateful that it wasn't worse! For instance, it could have been fleas!

What I learned from that day, is that sometimes in life we have to deal with the unplanned. We have to set aside everything we had planned to get done, and deal with unexpected and sometimes unpleasant interruptions.

I think the best way to respond to these kind of days, is to simply accept that we didn't get done what we had hoped, but it couldn't have been helped. Then to take advantage of the days that do run smoothly.
But...what if every day is hectic?

I really admire writers who are young mothers and still manage to write. They somehow find time, whether it's during the children's nap time, or movie time, or evening, they get their work done amidst the craziness of life.

What I've learned from other writers, is that if you truly have a passion to write, then you must make time. Even if it's just a little bit in the morning each day, that's better than nothing.

I didn't get much written during the week of the tick situation. But the following week, I picked up where I left off and set goals. But this time, I set goals, knowing that I might not reach them. Something unexpected might come up again. But I'd work hard and make the best of the time that I did have.

Last week I wrote a blog post on distractions that you can avoid while writing. If you have not read it, please do, and let me know what helps keep you focused while you write. You can view the post Here.