When "life" takes over, it's difficult to keep your mind focused on writing. And when you do sit down to write, it's hard to get the flow going because your mind is running 90 mph thinking of all the stuff you have to remember to do. So, how to get the flow going?
For me, it takes having something peaceful, calming to look at. The calendars in my writing room contain island, beach and mountain images. Heck, even my desktop scene often flows between river scenes, lakes, white-sand beaches and snow-capped mountains; anything to help slow the flow of head traffic in my mind so I can focus on the one scene that I want to complete for that writing session.
Typically, I stare at the painting, get that image firmly in mind, then close my eyes and count backward from twenty to one (starting at ten just isn't long enough for me!). And I focus on the numbers, picturing then in mind too as I count down. Then, I open my eyes, read the last paragraph of the copy that comes before where I need to start writing and force the fingers to start tapping. When my life is that harried at that point in time, hey, I'm happy if I've done six sentences! At least I wrote that day and put something down on paper. For me, that is a sense of accomplishment. What's yours?
