Lessons Learning — Knowing Now What We Now Know is Okay (Distractions)

I know we don’t know what we don’t know. Still, sometimes I wish I had known some of what I’ve learned over the past few years a long time ago, don’t you? I allow wistfulness its brief moment but move on to appreciate my lessons—not fully learned, but learning.

For example, did you know distractions are addictive? I heard that from another writer and it sent me spinning to take inventory of my own distracted behavior.

Say I’m teetering on what a character will say. Can she stay PG-13 while she blurts out what she is truly feeling?

Hmm. Must be time to put the whites in to soak. While I’m out and about, I might as well put the dishes away. I’m feeling peckish. What’s in the fridge? I haven’t texted Mom this morning. Should I have another cup of tea?

I am learning that some distractions can be used to mentally process writing, especially those distractions that take more than thirty seconds. Sweeping is a good one, as is mopping. Why can’t my character say what she wants? Blurt away, girl! As the writer, I can always edit the paragraph later if necessary. Let it rip!

I must also confess to allowing distraction to become its own subject. These telling, free flowing thoughts from last year could have just as easily been yesterday’s:

“I can’t stand dirty floors. A clean floor is good to have. Mopping can distract me from feeling unworthy. Sweeping is sometimes good enough.”

Dust and digital devices are my greatest distractions. I am learning to manage the devices, but the dust? Let’s just say I’d like to turn that from an obsession to a distraction. Lol.

See what I mean about lessons learning?

Enough now. Back to editing the novel.

New fiction author, Tanya D. Dawson, has written a story for the young adult in all of us. Her pending novel, Andersen Light: A Mystic Creek Novel, brightens the sometimes dark world of YA to deliver the angst and the weird in this inspiring adventure of mystery, intrigue, and mysticism grounded in today’s world. While Andersen Light: A Mystic Creek Novel is primarily set on the West Coast, Tanya lives and works in the American Southwest.