Castle

[Gary]

There is a new series called Castle which is about a mystery writer who tags along with a homicide detective to do research for his books. It's a ridiculous premise but no worse than any of the other amateur detective shows over the years. Seriously, what is the per capita death rate in Jessica Fletcher's small town? Hmm?

That said, it has some very nice writing and Nathan Fillion as the "nine year old on a sugar high" author. His relationship with his daughter is refreshingly different in that they are just a loving father and daughter without any particular signs of dysfunction, acting out or anything else. Well, at least on her part. Plus she seems to be the responsible one of the pair.

How does this relate to ADD writing? In the most recent episode there is a scene in which Castle is sitting on the couch with his laptop when his daughter comes in to talk to him. We see his screen saver but nobody comments on it in the dialogue.

The screen saver consists of several words in HUGE type that slowly appear on the screen one after the other:

YOU.... SHOULD.... BE.... WRITING

It's such a perfect screen saver for an author that I'm creating one for myself!

At least I'm writing :)

How do the authors here get themselves back on track after a distraction?

[Kathleen Christensen]

I'm consciously trying to alternate writing with other necessary and more physical pursuits--laundry, dishes. exercises for my arthritic knees. It can be helpful to my writing to go take a break. Trouble is, sometimes I get really sidetracked, and it takes me a long time to get back to the writing. Hours even. My latest plan is to use a timer when I take a break. Will let you know how that works!

[Gary]

I've heard the timer idea before and I meant to get one to try it.
Guess what? I got distracted. Maybe I'll go shopping tomorrow.
Wow, we could even have a real experiment with multiple subjects.
How are you at running inside exercise wheels?

[Bryan Hutchinson]

As you already know, I am into meditation and visualization. It works very well. I like to meditate for ten minutes or so, then before getting up, I ask myself questions to feed my drive to write. It's amazing how after meditating how quickly and clearly answers come to my questions. This is probably the original concept to prayer and reaching our inner knowledge?

[Voodoo]

Sometimes distractions actually help because they open up the mind. When you reach that point where you can see all these possibilities...well that's when writing is truly inspiring!