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WRITING WITHOUT
INTERRUPTION by Dan Poynter
Good writing requires concentration.
Interruptions often occur when you are deep in thought and producing your best
work.
Emergencies such as earthquakes, fire, and flood are
interruptions we can accept. We may even weave the unexpected experience into
our future work. Telephone calls, visitors and unnecessary questions are
interruptions that may make a writer a bit snippy. This is perfectly normal. If
people do not want to hear you yell at them, they should leave you alone.
Novelist Judith Krantz places this sign on her door: DO NOT COME IN. DO NOT
KNOCK. DO NOT SAY HELLO. DO NOT SAY “I’M LEAVING.” DO NOT SAY
ANYTHING UNLESS THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE.
Explain to your housemates:
“I love you but I am working now. Working requires concentration and one
brief interruption can cause me to lose a train of thought and lose an hour or
more of time. Your brief greeting or question could cause me to lose a precious
thought that will affect our income.” Set boundaries and unplug the
telephone.
God made the earth in six days and then he rested. He could
have done the job in just four days if it had not been for all the
interruptions. Sue Grafton lives in Santa Barbara. In 1993 she returned to the
University of Louisville to accept an honor. On a lark, she went to look at
houses—and bought one. Now she writes in both places. She says
“It’s really quiet in Kentucky because no one knows when I’m
there.”
Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends and
society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted,
and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.
—Lawrence Clark Powell, author.
Whether you are crafting fiction
or nonfiction, you must to be able to focus on the entire manuscript. You need
and deserve not to be interrupted. As Sue Grafton says: "Writing has to come
first".
Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still
inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written
more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-
Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see
http://ParaPub.com. ©
2003
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