Obstacles

I'm going to do my best to keep this from turning into yet another of my fun "pity party" posts.

Do you stand in your way?

After a week of not making as substantial progress as I have been, and so consistently, I've decided to take a look at what kept me from sitting down and doing it. I know, in the past, what these things have been. But with my brand-new outlook on writing, and what that means to me, I'm curious as to what my new challenges are.

Before, I can confidently say that I was as my worst enemy. I didn't understand my inner demons. I hadn't figured out what kind of person I was and how writing fit into my life. I actually had it backwards, thinking the writing was in control and that it defined me. Now I know better. And since then, I've been utterly bathing in happiness and "success" with my current writing exercise (again, "exercise" refers to the project I'm developing, but in a less "worky" way). I was constantly writing, constantly putting word to page and making the story grow.

For the past week, I've written maybe a few sentences and some dialog. Not nearly as lively as before.

But why is that? I don't believe I have the same obstacles as I had before my revelation, so what's new? I know how the story needs to go...so it's not necessarily full-on writer's block. I mean, I have been thinking about different avenues the sequence of scenes can go right now, but it shouldn't be a show-stopping number here. To be honest, I really haven't felt like writing.

I'm fighting a creeping fear here that this is the non-commitment problem that I saw in myself before. I don't want to believe in my doubts. I want to shove through them with confidence.

Most interestingly, I read a blog post from Julie Lindsey during this past week, and it was about vacationing from writing. She stated that, sometimes, her days are just dedicated to other things - like social media or research. I related to that, and mentioned how it IS okay to delve into certain "obsessions" (her word) and deviate from the actual exercise.

So is that what I've been doing? Just enjoying a little time off? Even the most exciting, favorite activities require a short break...so that you can appreciate the time you spend within those activities. I'm going to chalk this last week up to one of those short breaks.

What distracts you the easiest? What is your writing kryptonite? How long do you usually spend on these obstacles? Is laziness a big factor for you? What do you do to beat the distractions?