What do you do when your train of thought jumps the tracks?
This happens to me all the time. I’ll be writing away at break-neck speed and Dear Hubby will decide that it’s time to start a conversation with me. Screech! Crash! Bang! My train derails.
I sigh, lift my hands from the keyboard, turn, and I look at him over the top of my glasses, “What?”
He knows he’s derailed me. He has the grace to look sheepish and then mumbles something about the TV program he’s watching.
I do try to hold my temper in check. “Sweetie, do I look as though I am watching TV? I have no idea what you are talking about, I was writing.”
At this point, he either restates what he’s said to me or says he’s sorry for interrupting.
Now comes the part about what do you do? I can sometimes read back over what I was writing and get right back on track. However, if I find I’ve completely lost my momentum, I have to take a break. This is the best time to grab another cup of coffee, take the dogs out, or move to my chair and have a gabfest with DH.
Posted on April 15, 2009, in My blog, My books, Writer, Writing and tagged Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Doggonedmysteries 
Can’t tell you what to do, but I can offer my experience. During the years that I was making my living free-lance writing, I was also living with someone who did exactly the same thing – never noticed I was frantically dancing the keyboard fandango.
Over time I noticed that nothing I wrote ever suffered from having abruptly and unexpectedly left the tracks. So, I stopped worrying about it. Made life considerably less stressful, and I did enjoy my unexpected break.
Sometimes, it’s DH that derails my train or it’s the dogs wanting out. Then there’s people who drop in. No wonder I try to do the bulk of my writing in the wee hours. 😉
That happens to me on a daily basis with Tooters around. I will be working on writing, homework, needle work, computer, or random stuff and here she comes with some question that totally throws me. I feel your derailment.
From what I’ve seen of your blog, Tooters would throw anyone for a loop with her questions. 🙂
It depends on how the writing god is treating me. If he’s kind and the words are flowing, a distraction is no problem. I can stop, handle the interruption, and pick up right where I left off. It’s almost as if the flow of words goes into a holding tank until I can open the petcock and let them flow again.
If, however, I’m on his ‘naughty’ list, the least little thing–even a car driving by–shuts the flow off and rusts the petcock shut. Then I have to wirebrush the rust off to get things flowing again.
Don’t forget to use the WD40 after the wire brush…
😉
I’m not a writer, but that happens to me all the time, usually when I’m writing on a blog, same things as you, DH or DB (Darling Bullies) they HATE to know they are not the center of attention. 🙂
Yes, our DB’s are most demanding aren’t they?