Welp.

In my last post, three whole months ago, I talked about how hard distractions can be on a project.

I don't really think it's necessary to point out how true that is in my own situation, hmm?

Anyway.

The last three months have been really hard. Just as I was starting to save a reasonable amount of money for an apartment, my car gave up. So I've been hitching rides to work and feeling rather put-out.

My job is not as great as I optimistically believed. In fact, I make approximately $6,000/yr. and can't progress in the company because I'm female. But I'm still working 35-40 hours a week, so I don't have a lot of time on my hands.

Despite all this, there is a beacon of hope for my writing. NaNoWriMo starts in just over a week. This will be my seventh year participating and every year, without fail, it manages to give me a level of discipline I'm not able to recreate on my own. I was worried, initially, because I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about, but after a bit of consideration, and one abandoned idea, I've decided. Since life has been so rough lately, and all I've really thought about is buying a one-way bus ticket outta here, that's what I'm going to write about, a la On The Road. It's a bit different than anything I've done in the past, so we'll see whether or not it was a good decision.

For any writers out there struggling with the discipline of writing every day, I earnestly suggest NaNoWriMo. You'd be amazed how much the community of it all helps.

Follow me here.

Distractions

Distractions are pretty much inevitable, in every aspect of life. They happen to everyone, and they don't discriminate race, religion, or job description.

Sometimes these distractions are really bad. Car problems, money issues, death in the family, and so on. Other times, they aren't so bad. Sometimes it's a new job, or a vacation, or an unexpected windfall. But that still pulls you away from what you're supposed to be focusing on.

For me, right now, there are so many things distracting me from my writing. I just got a job, one where, if I work hard enough, and long enough, I'll be promoted through the company in no time. And I really need the money. I'm looking for an apartment, currently living out of boxes and suitcases. I'm praying that my car will survive for a few month longer.

And that's kind of how life goes. But it's so frustrating sometimes. Especially right now, when I'm feeling inspired and encouraged to write--but I don't have the time. And when I do have the time, I distract myself with television marathons, trips to the library--even writing blog posts like this one. I feel kind of like I'm sabotaging myself--if life doesn't get in the way, I'll find a way to procrastinate.

So I've decided to start setting some goals. I need to spend x amount of time writing this week, and y amount of time editing. I think that'll help a lot. I'll post my goals as soon as I have them all worked out and hopefully that will save me from at least some of the distraction.