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Thinking about my novel at work, thinking about work when I'm trying to write

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autumnleaf

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Does anyone else have this problem?

Quite often,when I'm supposed to be working, I'll have ideas from my novel running through my head. I do my best to squish those thoughts and concentrate on the job I'm being paid for.

Then I finish work and I finally have time to work on my novel. But then I start thinking about work problems.

I work from home a lot, which may be compounding the problem (no clear break between work and off-time).

Sometimes I think my brain is sabotaging itself.
 

EMaree

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Hah, yeah, I listened to a podcast about this very thing recently. It's a form of procrastination. Recognise it, and fight it as best you can.
 

CameronJohnston

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Hmm, if you work at the same place then you might need to start doing some kind of ritual to get in the writing-head space. You pack away anything work related, make your tea/coffee, switch off the Internet, set your your creativity inspiring knick-knacks and get to work. If you repeat that exactly it might help switch your brain from work to writing mode.
 

EMaree

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Just adding onto my post, which I realise was a bit light on content: the podcast I was listening to was an interview with Jessica Abel, who does a great book on avoiding creative procrastination called "Growing Gills". (I'm reading it right now and omgosh so helpful.)

I mostly don't but it happens where when I'm working I'm thinking about all the things I wanna do that are not working, when I'm actually doing my creative work or if I'm procrastinating sitting in front of creative work I'm thinking about like you know, I'm saying, “Oh, I'm not going to do all those things.”
And when I am doing those things I'm feeling guilty about not doing the work. You're never guilt and anxiety-free in that situation. And that's classic, everybody does it.

They discussed how this sort of behaviour is your brain avoiding a difficult thing by bringing up an easy thing--so when you need to work, the easier thing is the idea of writing, and when you need to write the easier thing is the idea of working. (The reality is different, of course, but writing is always so easy when I'm daydreaming about doing it instead of actually doing it.)

It's fundamentally not all that different from your brain going 'let's watch some funny cat videos instead of doing this hard thing' -- but your brain is clever, it knows you, and knows you'll be far more tempting by an alluring, 'productive' distraction instead of something you'll easily dismiss like cat videos.

Brains are wild tricksters.
 

technoglobe

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This is my problem exactly. What has helped me is setting a routine for when and where I write. It's not perfect, but the more consistent I am with it, the easier it is for me to get into the right head space. Little rituals help too, like turning on my writing playlist, making a cup of coffee, closing out my work email, etc.
 

Flanderso

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Does anyone else have this problem?

Quite often,when I'm supposed to be working, I'll have ideas from my novel running through my head. I do my best to squish those thoughts and concentrate on the job I'm being paid for.

Then I finish work and I finally have time to work on my novel. But then I start thinking about work problems.

I work from home a lot, which may be compounding the problem (no clear break between work and off-time).

Sometimes I think my brain is sabotaging itself.

I also suffer from this, although with a few differences. At work, I think about writing. While commuting, I am writing. but whenever I get free time, time that I know should be devoted to writing, my mind wanders over to that little black time vortex, the Xbox.
 

FeeFee

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I can completely commiserate! I also admire your work ethic. If I worked from home I'd probably pull up a blank document and start typing! I don't know if this is helpful, but could you have a notebook handy to jot down some key words about the ideas you have while working? Then during writing time you just "flesh out" those ideas in a more passive way that might even allow your mind to wander if it needs to.

But yes, I always have my best ideas when I'm away from a place to write, then lose that energy by the time I'm in a good spot for it. It makes me wonder if maybe my "good idea" is just adrenaline?? I do recall always coming up with essay ideas while doing cardio in college, so I wonder if there's something to the stresses of work that facilitate the best ideas?
 
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