Creative Writing in the Age of Immaculate Distraction: A Guide for Procrastinators


While writers are out there writing, it seems us procrastinators are bent and determined to avoid writing at all costs. In life, my counter-productive experiences have taught me that procrastination and distraction are perfect soulmates, one cannot survive without the other. For as long as we are conscious, we must do something, even if that something, is to sit and think about doing nothing. When I choose distraction over writing, I am not doing so because I dislike writing, I'm doing so because being distracted is less painful than writing. It was through these realizations that I was able to will myself from the stronghold of distraction and write this brief guide in hopes of inspiring a word or two.

As writers, we are woefully aware that the writing process begins with an idea. We are also know that ideas only come from those places we never look. We beg of the muses and we query the search engines, but those are hopeless endeavors. Our quest for an idea becomes so desperate that we devolve until we find ourselves scrolling an absurdly long list of writing prompts. Every single time I reached the bottom of that list, I came to the same conclusion: Writing prompts are about as useful to writing as a fork is to eating soup. My advice, get up, and go for a walk. To attract ideas, I have to get out of my secluded mind and into reality. Yes, reality is a scary place, but reality is where the unfamiliar occurs. Experiencing the unfamiliar leads to questions, questions lead to ideas, and for the writer, ideas keep us dutifully binge-typing for weeks.

Once adequately burdened by idea, the procrastinator can move on to the planning stage of writing--or not. The amount and type of planning depends on the idea and scope of our writing project. I have found that a long, drawn-out planning stage can be detrimental to the writing process. If one isn't careful, one can plan their writing out of existence before the first word is written. Creative writing is a personal endeavor and if you want to hold your ideas true to your vision, you'd be wise to keep your ideas to yourself. Seriously, work out your ideas and see where they lead before seeking the ruthless opinions of others. Nothing kills an idea faster than sharing it. It is futile to ponder why, just understand that people have a peculiar tendency to undermine ideas that are not their own.

Also, in the planning stage, we shall consider and perform any research necessary for our project. Keep in mind that, research is subjective. If one is to write about Athens, Greece, one could explore the shelves of their public library, or one could travel to Greece and spend a months long vacation exploring Athens itself. Only you can decide which method would be more fruitful for your writing. Whichever the case, we will have to begin recording our ideas at some point. Some authors like to craft a detailed outline of their plots and happenings. A well-structured outline can define order and illustrate the grand scheme of your design. My advice, don't get trapped by the mechanics of planning. If you have ideas, write them down, the order or format does not matter. Forget grammar, punctuation, and spelling; get those ideas recorded before you get distracted and forget. If you do not capture your ideas, what will you have left to work with?

Once the planning stage is complete, we must take action and write. Go straight to your computer and ignore those pending notifications and any promotional click-bait that confronts you. Open your favorite text editor, preferably one that doesn't generate its own click-bait. In this age of Immaculate Distraction, personal computers and the Internet exist only for the purposes of chronic distraction and combative commerce. Beneath these dark clouds of digitized oppression, us writers must remain steadfast and diligent as we pour the truth of our souls into the prose of fiction. We can start with a word, a phrase, or a paragraph. We can start at the beginning, the middle, or the end. It doesn't matter; just start writing. What we don't want to do, is to sit and idly stare into the void of a blank screen; you know the place, that infinite chasm where the only detail is a cursor, which sits there, blinking silently, mocking the passage of precious time. How many blinks does it take before our mind ponders to the kitchen for a snack, or we cave to our insatiable desire to check those notifications? Not many. So just type something, anything, even if it's absolute nonsense, and keep typing until something clicks. Remember always, a blank screen is a front for a mind seeking distraction.

The modern writer faces an unusual conundrum that has become a form of procrastination in itself. Amongst the vast sea of available text editors, the writer stops, and asks: Am I using the right App? I interpret this question like this: Is this text editor grand enough for the likes of me? Perhaps the current editor or App lacks those essential features like Word Count or Dark Mode. My advice, the perfect text editor does not exist. For the love of Zeus! People used to write on paper, spell check was a five-pound dictionary, search was a desperate game of Word Find, and word count was a guesstimate based the number of pages strewn around the room. If your text editor is preventing you from writing, consider exchanging it for paper. And, if that paper proves more suitable, grab a pen and start writing. Use whatever tools are at your disposal. The whole point of writing is writing. A writer knows that he or she must get the words out of their head in order to make room for more. Have you ever seen a writer's head explode? Me either. So, stop procrastinating and start writing.

Posted: March 2, 2024, 1:37 am