Lost and Found: Focus. Mine.

Lately I’ve struggled to find my focus as an author. Oh, I’ve been somewhat productive, but every accomplishment has been hard won in so many ways. Every word I’ve written has felt forced, every edited page as though it’s taken days.

There was a time when I loved writing. In so many ways it was like breathing to me. Everything that happened in life, for good or bad, was material for more writing, and motivation to finish yet another manuscript. And then I moved. And life took over. And writing fell down the priority list out of necessity.

The problem is those necessities have since calmed—we’ve really found our feet in our new place—and my inability to write should have ceased by now. The new problem is that I’ve fallen out of my good writing habits, and into bad ones wherein I am easily distracted by the internet, books by other people, church responsibilities, decorating, and…well, just about anything that can possibly be a distraction. Except cleaning. (That’s a downside too.)

And I’ve decided it’s time. Time to reorganize my thoughts. Time to reset my habits. Time to take control of my writing again. Time to be more productive.

After reading this post (thanks Elana!) I am reminded that taking control is really not as hard as I’ve convinced myself over the last year and a half. It’s simple. And it’s up to me.

So yeah. I’m off to start work on a new manuscript while I wait for edit notes on Birthright. I have a good idea, and I think I can actually turn that idea into a story. It’s all about focus, and I think it’s about time I found mine.

Have you ever lost focus on your goals for a long period of time? How did you find it again?