Thursday, February 12, 2009

Ooooh ... SHINY

My eldest daughter and I have this little inside joke that whenever she loses her focus and moves on to some other interest or activity leaving her old one behind I say "Oooooh ... shiny". We both laugh and know it's codeword for distraction. She was born in the year of the monkey and sometimes she absolutely epitomizes the attention span of that cute little hyperactive creature. Just dangle something pretty and shiny in front of her and her attention is easily diverted. And even though I'm a Tiger born personality I have to say I'm doing my own version of "Ooooh ... shiny" these days. I'm being distracted by two things in particular.

First distraction is this blog which I never thought I would do. So many options and fonts and colours and links to add! Oooh, haven't done pictures yet. Must add those soon. And what about blogs I follow? Shall I link those and let's check to see whose visited shall we? Did Stephanie leave a comment? Squeeee! Yes she did. Helloooo there! Sooo much distraction...

The second thing the bright new, shiny idea that popped into my head yesterday. Such a fun idea! Has anybody thought of it? Must google with some key words to see. Oh! and what if I throw this twist in? That would be so fantastic. And what if I do a male protagonist first person view point? Yipes. I've never done that. Could I pull it off? Let's just outline a little bit of what the plot might be, shall we? And who the characters are, names, situations... oooh... sooo SHINY.

And my poor, battered, worked over, worked on, worked up first draft is left dangling - forgotten. Lonely and left behind like some discarded doll I've gotten tired of playing with. I feel so bad for it! I force myself to return to it, knowing that it needs my attention. That I MUST FOCUS and finish it up. Until it too is as SHINY as the bright, new idea that popped into my head when I least expected it.

Let's hope the new idea will turn out to be as faithful a companion as the old one has been.

1 comment:

  1. Hey, don't think of it as distraction.. think of it as "marinating." Your manuscript and you are taking a much-needed break/ temporary separation so you can see each other with fresh eyes!

    Called you today. The person who answered said you went snowboarding but not snowboarding... which means, I assume, the kids are snowboarding and you are reading/writing. Hope you have a great day :)

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