Defeating the enemy/Enemy

The cursor blinks…blinks…blinks and still nothing.

The hours tick by and you’ve written two sentences. That’s progress, give yourself a reward and grab that bag of chocolate M & M’s. You finish a page and take a break to check your email, then the phone rings, it’s one of the kids so you answer. Now its lunch time and you make something to eat and go back to your chair to see the blinking cursor again. Ever have one of those days? Or maybe longer when procrastination sets in and the harder you push the further back those words regress?

Through the years I have done pretty well getting my pages done and meet my goal and then some, but lately the Enemy has kept me from accomplishing anything near what I usually do. The present story I’m working on just refuses to cooperate, leading me to one dead-end after another. But the enemy is also me, which Satan lavishes in. He knows what each one of our temptations, fears and the biggest distractions are and uses them to the fullest, bringing out self-defeat.

Because we work in a solitary profession there is no one to keep us on task, we have to be our own self motivators. This is a good/bad thing. We have the luxury of flexibility which is great when your teenagers goes through graduation and thirty relatives come visit for a week, or you finally plan that trip you’ve been meaning to take, or if someone is ill you’re there to care for them, but the flip side is we have to be diligent schedulers so we make that looming deadline. Having a contract doesn’t keep those distractions from creeping up, for many authors the pressure makes it worse. Knowing we’re not alone can ease some of the stress that Satan so cleverly plants into our subconscious.

So what disrupts you? Whatever it is be aware so you know how to face it the next time it pops into your head. I’m not big on TV but love a good movie and want to get out of the house after writing most of the day. If a friend calls and wants to go have lunch or take a walk on a nice day I have a hard time saying no to either. One thing I miss since I’ve started writing is reading. I use to finish a book at a rapid pace but now feel the need to write more than read. I have to be careful about what I can do in good conscious and what the evil one is tempting me to do. The line becomes very thin at times.

Then there’s this little voice in my head that tells me ‘this scene is terrible’ or ‘you’re never going to get this story put together’ and so many more little demons that sit on my shoulder and cut me down. Those are the times I rely on critique partners and readers to help me separate what’s going on in my brain and what the reality of it really is. If I let those negative thoughts sink in it will lead to failure so it’s imperative to have writers groups, good editors and my faith to set me straight.

Some of the tricks authors say they do to stay on task is to set writing goals that allow for flexibility but hold you accountable. Stay in the chair, no matter what the distraction, cling to your writing throne and dictate to your subjects from there. Nothing is permanent, just write, you can fix, fudge and completely rewrite the scene but just going through the process can help the juices begin to flow. Taking advantage of extra time is something I have a hard time with but have learned to do, and some of my best writing has come from those unexpected bits of time. I try to picture getting through the story and writing The End. Sometimes when I’ve done this I think of a good ending that changes the way I write the story.

The most important part is during my devotional time. The days I dive in and just start writing are often the times when I stop halfway through the day wondering what to write next. When I stop and ask God for the words and to keep Satan at bay I feel better even if my writing isn’t better. I’ve learned to know that when I get stuck there’s a reason and that He’ll pull me out when I’ve grasped what he has in store for me to write.

Questions: What tricks do you do to keep yourself from being distracted?
How do you deal with writer’s block?