{"id":268,"date":"2010-02-26T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chloeneill.com\/?p=268"},"modified":"2010-02-26T10:35:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T16:35:00","slug":"yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"YES!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brilliance from writer A.L. Kennedy on the Secret Joy of Distraction<\/a> which pretty much sums up my current state of mind:<\/p>\n

. . . It may be that we now know how we staggered to the end of the previous books
\u2013 but that doesn’t mean we’ll have a clue whether we’ll navigate this one to its
close or simply expire half-way across its nasty patio, still within sight of
its cheap front door. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HEXBOUND, in all its ghosty\/vampirey\/magical glory, is my current “nasty patio.” (That sounds so much less banal than saying it’s my current “albatross.”) <\/p>\n

And Kennedy continues to discuss the role of distraction:<\/p>\n

\n

The main thing that stops you writing when all you technically have to do is
write is the apparently gentle stream of minute, but utterly interrupting
interruptions. Slowly all your available pockets do fill with tasks you must
perform that are not proper writing. Some of them are lovely and yet all of them
are in the way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Admittedly, my distractions are taken on by choice. There is little in my non-working life that requires OH MY GOD, MY IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. But that doesn’t mean that every new Serious Eats<\/a> entry or Gizmodo<\/a> rumor about my future birthday present<\/a> or fabulousness served up by Ms. Anne<\/a> or Design*Sponge<\/a> doesn’t seem, in the moment, that much more interesting than whatever I’m supposed<\/em> to be working on. I mean, there are crafts to be done. And Tweetsto be Tweeted. And recipes to be mulled-over and, if I have the ingredients, undertaken.<\/p>\n

Of course, there’s still the larger point:<\/p>\n

I can remember that I really have always relied on the kindness of strangers. If
they don’t read me, all this stops. And since it hasn’t stopped yet, I can also
fall on back on the old, old ruse of using more writing to make too much writing
feel like Calvinist fun. So, running alongside the novel, I’m encouraging a
little radio drama \u2013 and when I’m doing one, I can pretend I should be doing the
other and vice versa. It’s not ideal, but it’s very much better than nothing.
Onwards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, dear readers–I see the Tweets and reviews and e-mails. And everytime you note that you got a laugh or had a few, delicate minutes away from life’s brambles while enjoying Lily’s adventures, the words come a little bit easier.<\/p>\n

xoxo<\/p>\n

(Linkage via Pimp My Novel<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brilliance from writer A.L. Kennedy on the Secret Joy of Distraction which pretty much sums up my current state of mind: . . . It may be that we now know how we staggered to the end of the previous books\u2013 but that doesn’t mean we’ll have a clue whether we’ll navigate this one to[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[355,119,361,60],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-dark-elite","tag-hexbound","tag-writing","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}