Trouble writing?

[bigsleepj]

Me and another member of the CAA (nameless here, forever more) have recently discussed this in the Chat Room; we both seem to be having trouble sitting down to write (or draw and/or write in his case). That is we keep getting distracted by other (not necisarily better) stuff to do.

For instance, I sit down to write, then get this strange compulsion to watch a DVD (any DVD) for no perfectly good reason, or I feel I have to answer an e-mail, or that I have to go ice a cake or count the tiles on the floor or the keys in the keyboard rather than write. This other person has had similar problems.

So I'd like to know if any other writers (or artists) have problems in this department? Do you have trouble focusing on the act of creation?

Just asking.

[Esoteric]

Absolutely, I always feel the urge to go ice a cake instead of write!
hehe, no seriously. I believe that is a very common problem for wanna-be writers, because frankly, writing is work. And that's why professionals get paid, because they make themselves write (and write very well) even when they don't want to.
But I'm in the same boat. Currently I'm trying to edit one of my stories, it's sitting there waiting for attention on my bedroom floor every day, but nine times out of ten, when I look at it, I think "nah, later...i'll go play video games instead!"

I have found to some degree, that I can effect my writing attention with music. If I always listen to certain music while writing a particular story, I tend to be able to focus better on the task. This may not work for everyone though.

[TurkishMonky]

when i'm writing a paper for school, i always have compulsive urges to do random things as well (um, such as post on the bump thread. you can tell my amout of homework by my frequency of bumps)

However, fictional story wise, if i'm relaxed and calm, the words will just flow.

[uc pseudonym]

At times, yes. This is especially the case when the scene to be written is not one I am particularly thrilled about (and here I presume you refer to fiction writing). Generally speaking I have found that I can write, and that after a short period of writing I begin to enjoy it.

However, getting started is the hardest part. To help you in that area I have several suggestions, though I do not gaurantee they will work for you in the slightest. First, have a good idea how you want to start (a sentence, or a narrative idea). Without that, it is very easy to just sit and stare at your screen, then do something else.

Second, I've found that music can be helpful. I'll put on a CD, and it distracts from the distractions enough that I can begin. Third, try to avoid waiting before writing. A computer booting up is a good example; if you have little urge to write, by the time it loads you will likely have even less. So either have the document up beforehand or do something like getting a drink instead of waiting.

[ShiroiHikari]

Do I have trouble focusing? Very yes.

[Maledicte]

I do. I haven't written anything not school-related in 3 months, making me way behind schedule....sorry UC and Kaori!

I did write that one poem though. *tch*

If it's not school, then it's the internet. Or TV. Or chores. Or shopping. Or reading. And especially artwork. Art's my shorthand for writing, but it's nowhere close to actually writing it.

Not to mention I'm kinda still stuck on a plot point...

The best way for me to write though, is to sit at my desk, play some music, have a glass of water and some light snack, a pencil and paper, and just go at it for several hours on end. I've written 2 chapters a day this way.

[bigsleepj]

Glad to see I'm not alone in my struggle with the ice-cake!

hehe, no seriously. I believe that is a very common problem for wanna-be writers, because frankly, writing is work. And that's why professionals get paid, because they make themselves write (and write very well) even when they don't want to.

Even on my days off I struggle and I get paid I don't think I'd be able to focus on writing any easier. Seriously, I don't know how Stephen King can write for five to six hours straight.

I have found to some degree, that I can effect my writing attention with music. If I always listen to certain music while writing a particular story, I tend to be able to focus better on the task. This may not work for everyone though.

I can't write with music - any kind of music be it symphonic or singing - because it distracts me too much. I can write with thunder in the background, with people screaming around me, but I find music too distracting. But that's just me! But I should maybe try to use it to get in the mood for writing.

However, fictional story wise, if i'm relaxed and calm, the words will just flow.

I seldom feel relaxed and calm when I try to write because of the compulsion to do something else and the irritation it causes. However if I get writing then everything flows naturally.

At times, yes. This is especially the case when the scene to be written is not one I am particularly thrilled about (and here I presume you refer to fiction writing). Generally speaking I have found that I can write, and that after a short period of writing I begin to enjoy it.

I experience it the same. I suppose most writers have a malaise around getting started, if the posts here and otherplaces on writers are any indication.

However, getting started is the hardest part. To help you in that area I have several suggestions, though I do not gaurantee they will work for you in the slightest. First, have a good idea how you want to start (a sentence, or a narrative idea). Without that, it is very easy to just sit and stare at your screen, then do something else.

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Now that you mention it when I don't have a well-thought out chapter to write I seem to get stuck. I'll have to try and think it out properly then.

Third, try to avoid waiting before writing. A computer booting up is a good example]

Hmmmm. My PC does take an awefully long time to boot (CURSE YOU ANTI-SPYWARE SOFTWARE!) so I'll keep that in mind next time I try to write.

Not to mention I'm kinda still stuck on a plot point...

Ugh! I hate it when that happens! It doesn't matter how much you plan ahead, these things sometimes just happen. I also recently had to double-back and rewrite several chapters in order to axe a character whom I realized did not do anything for the story. He was an interesting and hopefully complex character, but his presence took the story into levels where it would do the tale no good.

But thanks for all the replies and suggestions, everybody!! Its good to know I'm not alone!

[creed4]

I have trouble focusing ( and spelling) and THis semester has been so writing intesive its rediculas... I had a teacher have us write a three page paper each week. I did get a chapter of my novel finished though four more to go.

[Myoti]

However, getting started is the hardest part. To help you in that area I have several suggestions, though I do not gaurantee they will work for you in the slightest. First, have a good idea how you want to start (a sentence, or a narrative idea). Without that, it is very easy to just sit and stare at your screen, then do something else.

Ugh, yes. I have that particular problem all the time.

My biggest problem would be that I'm more of a "brainstormer" and "planner" than I am a "writer".

[ShiroiHikari]

My biggest problem would be that I'm more of a "brainstormer" and "planner" than I am a "writer".

Maybe that's my problem too...I do ten times as much planning and brainstorming as I do actual writing.

[Raiden no Kishi]

I think it's everyone's problem. The hard part is going from concept to reality.

.rai//

[TurkishMonky]

i would agree there... i took 5 hours thinking through my last paper, then wrote it in haf an hour...

[Swordguy]

i don't know i got addicted to writing, and i finaly finished a book of mine a few weeks back, but i don't know i would write it for fun, i allways have wrote story for fun..never anything too long till that story, for the most part it was allways short storys, normally within the same world, then out of a not realyl planed short story the book built itself. my imagination kind of wrote most of it. and there was a time for about five months were i didn't write a thing in it. but that passed after a while.
now i am jsut in the editing stage and that is hard and easy, soemthing are easy for me to catch but i have never been that good wiht grammer so that is a hard thing for me to find. i don't know there is anything really useful in that bit of rambleing, but i guess for me there was a time, but that passed, i find that takeing time away is not a bad thing.