As I cogitated (Gosh I love that word) over what I would explore as my topic for my weekly blog, I became increasingly distracted by ironically the idea of writer distractions. I’d had a fair number of them over the past week.

Originally, I wanted to talk about the question that came forth on The Therapy Café run by Darla Baker and KA Moll, because I was obsessed by their answers.  Darla assured me they would talk about this in a future episode. However, the real reason I decided I might not want to talk about that is the picture of my wife’s raised eyebrows when she got around to reading my blog. Sometimes she just shakes her head about my lack of any kind of filter.

The question for all your inquiring minds was, and I’m paraphrasing here, Should you have sex on the first date. I heard two no’s and one maybe and then I believe Darla might have changed her maybe (there was a lot of laughter and merriment going on so it was hard to distinguish).

Anyway…back to the new topic. I guess I got distracted again.  Big surprise. So here’s the deal. Although I do experience Writer’s Block on occasion, a much larger issue for me is what I call Writer’s Distraction. I can’t decide if Facebook has been a good or bad thing for writers. I know I’m not the only one who spends hours each night posting on their page, sharing posts, responding to posts and answering private messages. Wait…hang on…gotta answer that private message…damn just another, Hey Beautiful, from a creepy man from across the globe who I’ll block as soon as I finish this blog (a little tongue in cheek humor-see previous Facebook posts on this topic).

See, I can’t help it. When I hear the ding, I’m like one of Pavlov’s dogs; I stop what I’m doing and answer. This has seriously affected my writing of late. Instead of writing my one thousand words each night (a lofty goal I’ve completely abandoned of late), I hang out on Facebook. I’m addicted and I love it. Sometimes the chatter is so damn entertaining, I can’t break myself away. Other times the dialogue is just really interesting and again I can’t help joining in. So what’s a writer to do?

An ex of mine used to work at a women’s retreat center for writers on Whidbey Island called, Hedgebrook (Google it – a very cool place). It is set in an idyllic location with beauty everywhere… a very peaceful place with cozy cabins. Each writer spends the day alone writing and then they all come together for dinner and I suspect a bit of lively face to face conversation with like-minded individuals. I don’t think they have access to wireless so no computer generated dialogue.  I’ve wondered if I should apply, so it forces me to avoid distractions, but on the other hand, sometimes I get my best ideas hanging out on Facebook and chatting with others.

I think the real answer of whether Facebook and social media has been a good or bad thing for writers is, that it depends. On the one hand, I am sure that without Facebook not many people would have found me or my writing, on the other hand, I admittedly have taken to Facebook like a duck to water and I never want to get out of the pond.  I guess life is all about balance and I believe I don’t have that figured out yet.  I only know that I am overbalanced at this point and something has to give.  Unless…I lower my expectations about how many books I can realistically write in one year. More books means less Facebook interactions and I might miss all those wonderful conversations with other readers and writers. What to do….what to do? Any advice or suggestions?

If you want to check out what I have been able to publish before the addiction took hold…you know the drill click on the links below. Peace out, my Facebook friends…I’m off to try to write a thousand words. Recovery starts with one day at a time.

Affinity Author Page         Amazon Author Page