Write On!

Like all artists, I do my best writing and am the most productive when I'm set up just-right.

Though create a playlist as a soundtrack to my stories, I only listen to them during my planning for inspiration or build it when the book is done. As I mentioned in my last post, I think it's fun as a reader to listen to and get into the story more with a book soundtrack. See and hear the world like I did when writing it.

But for the life of me, I can't listen to music and write at the same time. It distracts me and the next thing I know, I'm singing along, and my fingers are no longer on the keyboard.

Days where I'm snowed in or the weather just isn't cooperating to do anything else but write, my mind isn't jumping from one thing to the next. There aren't any guilt trips I'm throwing at myself for not enjoying the sunshine or mowing the lawn.

Keep in mind though, the mundane tasks we all hate to do are best done before we sit our butts into the chair or comfortable couch. That heap of laundry on the coffee table can give a mean side-eye.

A coffee or tea, which I can honestly say I forget about most times, is next to my notebook and pens.

While notifications are silenced or completely off from my phone, I do have one app that I have running. Stay tuned for my upcoming post for this cute app that helps avoid distractions and encourages you to accomplish things.

Puppy cuddles (or old senile dog cuddles) are great... until it turns into a non-stop cycle of needing to be let out, whining for supper at 2 in the afternoon, or when they get into a full-on brawl because one of them dared to boop the other accidentally. Good thing they've lost a lot of teeth, or I'd have to add a vet visit to the list.

Preparing your spot, whether it's in the same place every time, or you can move from couch to office, then a corner in a café, is the real secret. 

Getting up to get a pen can turn into baking cookies or forgetting about the coffee you forgot about an hour before you put it in the microwave the first time can turn into opening YouTube watching Trixie and Katya's UNHhhh. Then you're in a downward spiral and soon you're spamming friends with links...

Not me of course, these are things that can happen, or so I've heard.

What is your set up? What can or can't you have with you?

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