Writer's block or distraction?

    There was a time when I spent way too much time writing. I used to spend every spare minute that I could find composing stories. There was always some story in my head or scribbled down on paper from the past that I wanted to turn out. When I finished writing Trooper Blondie back in 2005 I had a case of burn out and took a break. Since then however, I have only turned out one more short story.

   Part of the problem was new ideas but I have been thinking of a few new ones. I have been inspired. When I was up north last week, away from any electronics, I thought out at least three new stories in my head that I told myself to write about when I got home. I even have a couple in the infant stages of progress. My problem can't be described as writer's block. I guess it's more of writer's distraction.

  You see, when I sit down at my computer, I pull up my Flickr account to see what's new with my photos or to add new ones. Once I'm done there, I check out all my emails, then I look up this blog page, then I have to see what's new with some of my other favourite sites. By the time I'm done all that I think, "Oh ya, I should start working on a story." Then I realize that I have spent way too long on the computer and have to go to bed or go to work. I am already a horrible procrastinator. The internet just makes it worse for me to get a project done.

  Blogging is quick and easy. I can jot down an thought in a few minutes but the dedication it takes to write a story is different. The thought processes requires re-reading the entire draft and picking up the stream of from that point to continue. Once I start it, I don't want to stop either. This means I have to dedicate the time before digging in the writer's chair. The irony of this blog post is that I could have used this time to write a new page of a story. There I go again.

MMC