Writing Through Irritation

I’m going to compile a little list of things that are really irritating when you are writing. I get really bothered by being unable to write when I’m in that writing mode due to factors out of my control. So, I decided to make a little list of those things that really irritate. This isn’t just the fault of those things, but also the product of my flashes of writing genius coming at the most horrible times when I can’t write.

1. Work: I hate when I get a sudden spark of creative genius and I’m at work, leaving me unable to write anything more than a tiny sentence that won’t help me later on because I will have forgotten whatever it was I was talking about. I’m one of the many writers who has to have a full time job, a job in which there is no conceivable way to begin writing while on the clock.

2. School: This is not quite as bad as being at work, but it is just as troublesome, depending on the class and how much attention I actually have to put into whatever is going on. Sometimes I can start jotting things down, other times I am furiously taking notes and don’t even have time to write a quick note to myself.

3. Important Phone Calls: How many times have you been writing amazing stuff, on and on, page after page, and suddenly get a phone call that you can’t avoid? I hate when this happens. Yes, I can ignore the call, but when it comes to calls dealing with bills or whatever else is bothering my life at any particular moment, phone calls become rather difficult to avoid. And with me, when I’ve lost concentration in my writing, I’ve lost my creative burst for the whole day.

4. Being Interrupted: I find it rather annoying whenever I am interrupted by a member of my family or someone else when I’m right in the middle of writing. It breaks my concentration. The same thing goes for when I’m doing homework. Then whatever it was that I was doing is lost for hours or even the whole day.

5. In the Car: Have you ever been in the car and suddenly get a stroke of genius and can’t write it down because you’re on the highway and can’t stop? Annoying isn’t it? And then you try to remember what it was later so you can write it down and it’s gone…

6. Brain on the Fritz: This happens to me from time to time where my brain will be churning out awesome words, and then suddenly it just stops. It’s as if my brain is running Windows XP and randomly had to reboot, losing all those lovely images and ideas just as would happen if you had a Word document open and the computer died before you could save it. Gone to the abyss and if you are lucky your mind autosaved the stuff somewhere in the dark recesses of your subconscious and you are able to retrieve it. But that’s if you’re lucky…

7. The Internet: The Internet is one of those fascinating products that is both useful and distracting. The problem with the Internet too is that while you would think you could just set it down and not worry about it, you often find yourself using the Internet to feed your writing. At least that is the case for me. With writing fantasy and scifi, I find that I constantly go to the Internet to look up certain terms, research concepts that might already have been started in our world today, or even to spark and idea in my head. What runs along with that is all the email checking, random searches that have nothing to do with my writing, and all those other things that have a tendency to stop you from doing anything productive.

8. Music: I am one of those people that can’t write when there is music running, even if it is classical. I love music, don’t get me wrong, and I sometimes can write when it is playing, but for the most part I find it distracts me from doing much of anything, especially if it is music with words. I don’t know how anyone can write while their CD of Greenday is blaring in the background. How do you concentrate on the writing when you are singing the words outloud or in your head? When it comes to classical or orchestrated music I find myself humming along, but sometimes the music will really help my mind get moving. But only sometimes…

9. TV: This use to be one of the things that distracted me the most next to the Internet. Luckily for me I don’t watch it much anymore because, in all honesty, I think commercials are the most terrible inventions since Hitler invented the Concentration Camps. I hate commercials with every fiber of my being. That isn’t just exclusive to TV either. Radio commercials are just as retarded, annoying, and downright bad for society. Don’t get me wrong, there are some commercials that I actually enjoy. In particular are the Geico commercials (most of them except for any with the new gecko voice because I don’t like that accent on my gecko…). Regardless, in the days when I actually watched TV I found myself always distracted by it and if there was another factor that distracted me beforehand I always reverted to the TV or the Internet to occupy my mind. I do watch things on tape and DVD, just not on actual TV.

Alright well I think that is a good enough list for now. I might come up with new reasons and add them when I can think of them. If anyone pops by leave me a comment if you have anything else that you think is distracting or irritating.

Now in other news, it’s 8:09 AM and my new leopard geckos should be here SOON. I can’t wait. They are going to be so pretty and awesome. I also got to do some writing yesterday on my way to the college Concert Band class. It was handwritten, and I really don’t like writing by hand because it is too slow for my mind, but regardless it is groundwork for this new story. And I’m totally liking the story too. I’ve got to stop myself though because I will start getting ahead on the story and then get bored. However, the first three chapters in my mind are rather good and different from anything I’ve written before.

So, exciting things are churning :).