I’ve been in a bit of a blogging slump these past few weeks, though oddly enough it’s not because I can’t think of what to write. Rather, I’m having a hard time organizing my thoughts for the posts I do want to write. I have at least a half-dozen posts that I’ve started but can’t seem to bring to completion. Whenever I work on them, my mind goes all fuzzy and thoughts zip in and out of my funny little brain. I just haven’t been able to write the posts in a coherent way suitable for publishing.
For now, those posts will remain a work in progress, hidden in the depths of the kasbah until further notice.
And so, because my mind’s all scattered and unfocused, I thought it apropos to share an older post from last year on the art of being easily distracted as a writer. Enjoy.
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If You Give a Writer a Brownie
If you give a writer a brownie, she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She will immediately stop her writing, go into her kitchen and get out the Italian coffee pot to brew some nice, strong coffee.
Strong coffee will remind her of her recent trip to Italy. She will want to look at her photos from her Italian adventures, so she will pull them up on her laptop while she eats her brownie and drinks her coffee.
Venice, you enchanting temptress
Seeing her photos will make her want to figure out where her next international trip will be, so she will go to her library’s website to reserve multiple guide books for places in Africa, like Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Thinking about going to Africa will make her realize that she doesn’t have the necessary travel gear, so she will go to several websites and seriously contemplate purchasing some necessary items.
Seeing the hat will remind her of the other hats in her collection, including the one from the 1930′s that her friend recently gave her. She will put the hat on and look at herself in the mirror. The writer will be frightened by the reflection staring back at her because she is in desperate need of a haircut. She will quickly take off the hat and walk to her closet to put it away.
On the way, she will see one of her cats lounging about, looking completely and insanely adorable. She will stop to pet and snuggle him.
Having awakened the cat from his hours-long slumber, the writer will commence her one-sided dialogue with him, talking in what could only be described as a terrible rendition of Ricky Ricardo:
“Lil’ Hen, you have some ‘splaining to do. Can you ‘splain to me why you are so cute?”
It will not be the writer’s finest moment.
The cat, bored with all of the compliments, will go back to sleep, leaving the writer to resume her prior activity. Except the writer will not be able to remember what she was going to do before petting the cat. She will shrug her shoulders, as she will often do in moments like that, and then will notice her laptop sitting open on the table nearby. It will remind her that she is a writer and really should be doing some writing.
She will hop on the internet and notice that she has not yet checked her Twitter, Facebook, or email accounts, not to mention working on her novel-in-progress or writing blog posts. The writer will feel completely overwhelmed by all of this and will have a sudden, strong desire for another cup of coffee.
The writer will head into the kitchen to fix herself another cup of coffee to give her the necessary writing mojo to crank out some brilliant prose. And if the writer has another cup of coffee, chances are she’ll want a brownie to go with it.
oOo
Inspired by “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff
Oddly, this still rings true for me. How about you? What distractions have you faced down today? How did you overcome them? If you read this last year when I first posted it, have you been more successful at staying focused since then? Do tell. Sit, sip, and share your trials, tribulations, and success stories. I always love to hear from you.