It happens to all of us: we hear “Do you have a minute?” “Can you help with this?” or “What are you doing there?”
Our writing gets interrupted.
We have cats and small children climbing on top of our keyboards. Holiday events that are planned during our writing hours. There are things to do and places to be.
So what do we do when the inevitable distractions, phone calls, and interruptions occur?
Well, we have a few choices.
One reaction is to treat any interruption as an unwanted and unallowable distraction. We must protect our writing time, after all! It’s time for us to focus on our work. The words won’t write themselves and we need to get things done.
There’s a lot of good things to be said about this attitude! We need to be able to protect our writing time and set boundaries if we ever want to accomplish our projects.
However, there are times when these interruptions can make us both better writers and better people.
Now disclaimer here: This is not about making excuses to get out of actually doing any work. We still need to do the work. Let’s try to be honest with ourselves about our procrastination habits.
Avoiding distractions in order to write is frequently good. We do need to protect our writing time and make it a priority.
It’s just not our only priority. And that’s important to remember.
3 Reasons to Allow and Use Interruptions in Our Work
1. The Real World Inspires Our Pages- Live In The Moment
As writers we want to embrace life, soak in the details around us, and live in the moment. After all, if we don’t notice the world around us, how can we accurately portray characters, emotions, and the world on our pages?
We don’t want to be letting life pass us by and we don’t want to overlook the world around us.
Sometimes our writing work can get in the way of embracing life. We set aside other activities in order to sit on our couches typing away, letting the world go on around us.
Interruptions to our work can be a good reminder to live moment by moment and absorb the world around us.
We can use these changes of pace to enrich our writing and our stories.
One of my favorite Ray Bradbury quotes is, “We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”
As writers, we get the privilege of sharing the world with others but first we need to soak it in until we are filled to overflowing with life and passion. When we get chances to play in the snow, go on an impromptu adventure, or catch up with an old friend, let’s not let our writing time hold us back.
2. People Are More Important Than Wordcounts
No matter our relationship status or living situation, this principle is true for all of us. Relationships are important.
Yes our writing should be a priority, but it isn’t the only priority. When we think about it, we often actually have a few higher priorities in our lives, such as family and friends. (There are other priorities as well, of course! These are just some big ones that come to mind for me.)
How we react to interruptions in our writing should keep our priority rankings in mind. Not that we can’t ever say no to our families, but sometimes there are instances where we may want to put them above our writing time.
Snuggly child who wants cuddles? Those are precious moments that go by so fast.
Sick friend who could use some extra encouragement? These are foundational times to serve and show our love.
Family in town for the holidays? It makes sense to share time together while we can.
There isn’t a “right or wrong” here, just considerations to be keeping in mind as we react to those last minute schedule changes.
3. Interruptions Can Add Urgency To Our Writing
Sometimes interruptions can keep us from meeting deadlines, which can be frustrating. I hate being late for things. But we can also use this to our advantage in some ways.
Especially during this busy holiday season, we can probably guess that there will be interruptions coming. Honestly, my life is frequently busy enough that I can count on it.
Nice of the interruptions to be consistent anyway?
In a way… yes, actually.
When we know there will be interruptions to our work we can use this knowledge to increase our focus and urgency. After all, if we want to complete this project and we know we don’t have much time, we need to get cracking!
There are ways to be productive in our writing despite having very little time. In fact, sometimes having less time can actually make us more productive because we are more intentional in how we use it.
So let’s use our time well. Let’s work hard so we’ll be able to take breaks when it’s time to bake cookies, wrap presents, and spend time with loved ones.
Taking breaks from our writing can be healthy at times and it doesn’t mean we’ve given up on our writing. Allowing ourselves time away from our writing can keep us from burning out as well as helping us not to neglect the things and people important to us.
It’s also important to recognize that these different seasons come and go: there will be times when we get plenty of time to write and other seasons when interruptions happen a lot. We don’t want to always allow distractions or to end up neglecting our writing, but sometimes interruptions will come and sometimes it’s okay to let them.
So let’s allow these moment to happen.
Let’s hug our children, talk to our friends, call our mothers, walk our dogs, and bake some cookies. Let’s soak in the moments. Go on an adventure and breath in the fresh air!
Our lives are made of these precious times and we don’t want to overlook them.
Do you have lots going on this holiday season? How does your writing fit in with other activities these days? Whatever that looks like for you this week- happy writing! 🙂
