leave a responseThe problem with having a stay-at-home job is focus. It’s so easy to run downstairs for a bottle of water and end up tossing in a load of laundry, folding what just came out of the dryer, and thinking of at least two people you need to call for some reason. What was supposed to be a 2 minute trip to the kitchen becomes a 40 minute detour.
I’m not usually too bad at focus, when the story is humming. When it’s not, well, I can think of a lot of things I need to get done. Add to that the guilt of needing to organize the house and get everything put away, and focus becomes an issue.
On a bigger scale, I have trouble with focus in that I want to do so many things and spread myself thin. Concentrating on one thing means I will become more accomplished at it. A master of a particular thing rather than a jack-of-all-trades.
My goal is to become a master. Focus is the key. It will take effort, of course, just like getting those muscles back into shape. One day at a time.
How do you deal with focus? Are you a pro at it? If so, what’s your secret? 
I'm a romance author whose debut novel, 
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Timely question! Three weeks ago I discovered something. When I’ve got a ton to do (and since I now have two separate careers going… you get the picture), I find a change of location helps.
I’ve been intentionally driving over to the Hickam Library one afternoon a week to work. The desks are adequate, and there’s WiFi so I don’t feel cut off from the outside world and can do the online things I need to do, but no one else I know is there. There’s no laundry, no TV. I’m not allowed to answer my cell, so I have to let it go to voice mail.
I think I knew this before, but had forgotten. In seminary I would go to the Chicago Botanic Gardens on a Saturday with a bunch of books and just read assignments. It worked well. Again, no friends, no TV, no internet in that case… Got a lot done that way.
So, yeah. My secret is: Change locations!
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Excellent idea! Remember when we had all those power outages on Hickam? I was going over to Starbucks and taking the laptop. I had wi-fi (not free, but they do have plenty of free wi-fi around here!) and I had coffee. I was able to work fairly well. Perhaps I should consider that for an afternoon or two a week, just until I get the house done, and then maybe I could go a bit more often. Unfortunately, the place closest to my house with free wi-fi is a wine bar. Now, I love me my wine, but getting tipsy at lunch probably isn’t a good idea. Just call me Hemingway.
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Umm… change of location works for me too. I have been working on the State plan and the last few weeks I just couldn’t get anything done.
So, I went to Otto’s work, used one of his computers in the radio room, and VIOLA I had focus.
My problem is I like those games… too easy to play
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Oooh, games. I try to forget I have them. Bejeweled can fascinate me for a long time.
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I quit bejeweled and am now on Tradewinds.
… I am a great merchant privateer. LOL Must be those genes.