Hocus Pocus FOCUS

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can't focus? My younger brother has ADHD and I feel like him today. I've gone from one thing to the next this morning, easily distracted. I sat down to write and hour and a half ago. I haven't written a word. I've been surfing the internet. It started out innocently with SCBWI events for April, which triggered a search for proper manuscript format, this somehow landed me back at my Blog but I got distracted by my own Blog List and ended up over at BAD RAPs blog to see which "shock jock needs to be muzzled" (Len Tillum, for anyone who is interested).

Now I have finally returned to my own blog. I have a wonderful day all to myself while my husband is at work. I'm about halfway through my W.I.P.! I stopped at a good point yesterday so I would be encouraged to come back to it this morning. I was really excited after walking the dog to sit down in front of my computer and start plunking away. Not one word plunked. Not so much as a letter! It doesn't help that my one-eyed cat has been walking around meowing like she is being tortured. This happened for about an hour. It's a beautiful, sunny day outside and Pip wants to go explore. Her sister is laying in the yard, soaking up the sun as dogs so often do. But for 7 years now, Pip has not been outside. Oh yes, there were a few adventures last week when Lily and she were in cahoots and Lily was letting her out. Lily doesn't keep secrets well, though. Her tail was wagging furiously in the yard and she was dashing around grabbing toys. I finally stepped outside to see what was up and - lo and behold, Pip was in the yard. She was strolling around in cool Pip fashion just checking things out. Lily, meanwhile, was so excited to have her there, that she was showing her every toy in her arsenal as if to say, "Look, Pip, we can play with this! No? Okay, we can play with this one instead! No? That's okay, I have this pink one that's fun too! No? Okay, would you like this one?" Sigh. Lily loves to play and share her toys. I scooped Pip up and brought her back inside. Lily came back in as well. Five minutes later, they were both back out in the yard. So now, this little one-eyed cat has tasted freedom and longs for more. The problem? She has one-eye. We have coyotes. We had one in our yard just last month at 8am. Sun is up and coyote is in our yard. My cats are not going outside. Pip thinks if she protests enough, I will give in and let her out. Not so. I stood firm. But it rocked my morning focus (yes, I just blamed the cat).

I'm hoping by blogging, I can get back on track, but you can see from this entry how scattered my brain is today. We started with internet surfing and went into a story about my one-eyed cat. My characters are calling me, I'm getting closer than ever and I just can't be wasting any time! Hurry up, already! Let's get to that finish line! I will force myself this afternoon to focus. Once I get started, I'll be sucked back in to the forest and wandering through the trees for hours. I have my Balsam Fir scented candles burning. Perhaps some rivers flowing on you tube will help get me there as well. The magic door is just ahead and it's more than time for me to step through it already! Back to the woods, I go. Good day, everyone! Happy Writing!

(NOTE: That is the one-eyed cat, Pip, snuggled in blankets on a cold winter night years ago. Isn't she sweet?)