How a TV Show Made Me More Productive

Last updated on July 27th, 2014 at 09:49 pm

We all remember being told to turn off everything that makes noise when doing your homework.

The belief is that you can’t concentrate if there are any distractions.  I no longer believe that is true. I want to think this is new information for a lot of people but the truth is I’m not sure if I’m at the front of the bus or running behind it waving my hands hoping the bus driver (and no one else) will see me and stop.

Along the journey toward my dream of being a writer I have made some self discoveries, not all of them welcome.  The one that stands out the most is my inability to keep writing. Yeah I know, a writer having a difficult time writing is less than novel (no pun intended).

The problem isn’t a lack of ideas but an over abundance of distractions.

We all have distractions right?  Spouses, kids, jobs, and money the list goes on and on.  What I didn’t realize was that after years of working in a cubicle I have mastered the ability of tuning out the external distractions.  It is the internal ones that keep getting in the way.

Quite by accident I found that if I leave the TV on low I can keep writing thereby increasing productivity.  For me it only works if it’s an old rerun but I am sure it’s different for different people.  I thought this was an anomaly until I mentioned it to a friend who told me she does the same thing.

Why is that?

What is it about that background noise that makes the words flow freely?

It seems to distract the parts of my brain I am not using for writing.  Music does not work for me though as I keep singing along and that gets me nowhere.

I discovered another thing this week. I didn’t think it was possible but I do have the ability to really dislike a book. I finished reading Following the Whispers by Karen Walker and can honestly say I did not enjoy it.  I can’t decide if it’s the writing or the choices she made along her own journey but I got mad.

In fact I was angry enough that I spent time researching some of the information on-line trying to prove her life story was fabricated. I was not able to prove that so I must assume it’s true.  I encourage others to read this book and send me a comment.

I would really like to read the opinion of anyone not involved with the book.

The most important thing that happened this week is the development of my own blog to post my scary stories.  Thanks to my very close friends it is up and running at Killeryarns.com.  My first post will appear Friday morning.  I will write more about it next week.

Until then,

Dream your dreams out loud

Dawnda

(Dawnda’s dream was to get some piece of writing published in 2009.  She left the 8 Women Dream group in 2009 to focus on finding full-time employment.  We consider her an accomplished dreamer as she published her thoughts here and began her own scary stories blog at www.killeryarns.com)

https://8womendream.com