I have poor focus to begin with. Usually to achieve high focus, I pretty much have to shift into Obssessive Mode, which if it goes on too long can get draining. It’s not pretty either because my eyes go dark and puffy for lack of sleep and I start talking to myself.
Unfortunately a series of life events, which have been ongoing since the spring, has underminded my concentration. Surgery, recovery from surgery, house hunting, purchase of house, packing, first half of vacation in London UK and the second in Nova Scotia, then more packing, final possession of house, moving into said house, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Crash courses in getting a mortgage, what to look for in a dud house, researching train schedules and maps for London, how water softeners work… well, the list is a long one, but my point is all of this took over my mind.
The upheaval this summer stirred up a lot of reluctance to dive into revision work for Ule. While I still worked on it in spurts, discovering that with a return of some objectivity toward the story, some of the revisions were unnecessary and a fix for a glaring logistic problem still hadn’t been resolved, I preferred not to immerse myself into the material. With books, DVDS, CDs, and the comforts of living steadily being packed away and sealed into brown boxes, my focus geared toward exercise and, dare I say it, escape.
Forms of escape, as a writer, included the following.
1. Mental Exercises
This time around, instead of creating scenes out of situations, I let the characters and what they were most likely to do and say according to their natures generate the changes to propel a story forward. Sometimes I would throw props in as a source of conflict. For example, having two characters struggle for control over something like a tv remote control. Then I would visualize the scene as drama, then as comedy, then as dramedy. Sometimes the story would reveal the beginning of a romantic encounter and at other times the end of a friendship.
What was most interesting is the number of derivations that can result based on the choices the characters do or do not make, each creating a version slightly different from the other. Often, I found myself wondering which of those versions were most effective. In the end, I learned that there can be more than one version that will tie in with the theme of the story. Settling on a version seems to come down to choosing what effect or impact the version will convey to the reader.
2. Reading
Returning to reading genres that I hadn’t read in a while, such as horror, romance, erotica and some sci fi, rekindled a nostalgia for a time when I had more time. (A preference for variety always keeps me jumping from genre to genre; that at least hasn’t changed.) Reading short stories and novellas online exposed me to previously unheard of, independantly published writers. Some were good and some not so good yet all inspiring for doing what they love to do–finding a readership and being compensated for their creative offerings.
Feeling a furious case of ignorance (which I’m still suffering from now), I installed Kindle on my laptop and read some non-fiction work on the publishing industry, story theory, and promoting through the Internet, again all material that was inspiring. It seems a great number of writers are paving the way toward effective independant publishing which allows them to write full time.
3. Writing Exercises
Just practicing writing which doesn’t require any commitment other than satisfying curiousity is a luxury I kept telling myself I didn’t have. However, after a few attempts at writing spontaneously, well wouldn’t you know? A certain flow began to return to the word outpourage. It mostly came from not having to be serious. (Lesson learned!) Writing exercises included scenes in script format, dialogue-only storytelling, shifting points of view and tenses (especially present tense which I haven’t written in for many years).
Sometimes I would use original characters or established fictional characters (a la television shows or movies) to save myself the time of character and setting developement so I could focus on specific storytelling elements, such as scene building, dialogue, mood, tone, pacing, et al. I started researching urban words and slang to get a better feel for their meaning and usage. (Ish is hands down my favourite!) Writing in profane and vulgar language helped to really break down some barriers. In hindsight, writing exercises aren’t a luxury, they’re a necessity.
So when you can’t focus on writing your novel, these three main activities are worth the effort and time. As a result, my writing style has improved and word flow has become entirely unblocked allowing for more time efficient writing. My understanding of story elements has deepened, as well as my appreciation toward other non-famous writers whose work may not sell millions of copies but are published nonetheless. And most importantly and strangest of all…
My focus has improved. 
