Snow Day!

Bam! It's winter! It was such lovely fall weather all week last week, and then the snow hit last night and hasn't stopped yet. It's a heavy, wet snow that's weighing down all the poor trees with their leaves still attached. And I'm not entirely sure where my snowboots went, so running out to whack the snow off the branches as best I can in my hiking boots without socks has definitely proved to be an experience. But I'm too short to get the bulk of the snow off, which has be a little anxious. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I'm a worrywart.

The good news, I suppose, is that all the snow has somehow messed with the internet (or, you know, the internet's just being weird and slow), and the cable, so it's definitely a writing day. Huzzah for getting rid of distractions! My plans? Make another cup of cocoa (my mother makes the best homemade mix, and with a peppermint, it's absolutely delicious!), cuddle up with a cat and try to pound out a chapter or two.

Also, NaNoWriMo starts in five days and eleven hours, as of this writing. Eek!

Distraction!

You know of what I have far too many? (We’re going to ignore that awkward sentence structure in light of it being grammatically correct.) Distractions. You know what I love but really should hate with the passion of a thousand dying stars? Distractions.

My favorite distraction? Text-based role-playing. It’s addictive for the writing-influenced mind, I swear. I suppose it could be compared to World of Warcraft or Dungeons and Dragons (I’ll admit to playing the latter, but I’ve never tried the former), except it’s all done with words. It’s all written out. There are no dice to throw or graphics to load, just a good, old-fashioned story to write with your partner(s). It's so helpful for throwing ideas around and a bit of world-building on occasion, definitely character development. What better way to get to know your characters than by sticking them in random situations with someone else's character, after all? 

But there's an inherent problem here. Well, two, really. 1) It's addicting and time consuming. 2) It's a distraction. There have been several times when I wander around thinking about a story and realizing I'm plotting out my characters' next moves in a role play when I should be working on something like figuring out how long it takes to get from one country to another in my actual story, especially without falling into the "Horse as Motorcycle" syndrome. Don't get me wrong, everyone needs a break from their work now and again. But this gets ridiculous. And, I'll admit, there have been times when I'm so sucked into a particular plot line with someone else that I neglect my book(s) for weeks at a time. I tell myself I'm still writing, so it's okay. 

Except that it's not okay. Yes, the role plays are fun and helpful on occasion, but they're not helping me get my book written. (With the sole exception of the one plot my friend and I are attempting to turn into an actual book eventually.) So here's my confession: My name is Emerson and I'm addicted to distractions. 

That's step one in recovery, isn't it? What's step two? I have no idea. For this, it's probably turning the internet off for a while every day and forcing myself to actually work. Otherwise this is going to be a very long, very slow, very painful process. 

What about you guys, all three of my readers? What are your worst distractions and how do you overcome them?