Written by John Safin

I need to write an article that emerging and experienced writers can appreciate, and all that I do is determine ways to put off the inevitable. The article must be written, yet without a clear focus or even a subject to write about, my mind drifts from place to place and all regions of my conscious and subconscious.

Hang on…my coffee cup is empty.

[Five minutes later]

Aaah! A delicious white chocolate mocha venti, hot, no whipped cream from my favorite bookstore’s café. I come here to write because home has too many distractions. The television is usually ‘on’ in the living room. While the office is in a second bedroom, the audio can be heard even if the television screen is blocked from view. The news channel or Cartoon Network is the usual choices for companionship. Occasionally music from my collection is selected; however my CDs tend to influence my writing style. Heavy rock for all the ‘evil’ characters, jazz for narration, and so on. Once in a while I’ll turn on the radio, but the local music stations play the same songs over and over with too many commercials. Much of the time talk radio will be a selection, again offering a false sense of companionship as the on-air personality’s voice talks to me. No one to nag at you is one of the drawbacks of being single.  

Dammit! I’m dilly-dallying again.  

Like anything that’s important, knowing the ultimate goal will help you reach it. Whether it’s a writing assignment or from another aspect of your life, understanding and clearly defining your objective will help you achieve success. Three actions that can help you achieve your goal include: Writing down your final objective Determining the steps and timeline to reach your goal Reviewing your goal In my instance, publishing a compelling and interesting article is the final objective. The goal is clearly defined, as when the article is finished my goal is complete. This coffee is really good. While it might be 110 degrees outside in Phoenix, Arizona. The bookstore’s air conditioning is being kept at a chilly seventy-eight degrees. The hot brew is helping to keep my physical being comfortable even if the café chair is deadening the nerve ending in my rather large posterior. Feels good to stretch. Wish my nose would stop itching.  

@%$!%!@  

Where was I… oh, yeah…  

The timeline for this project is equally clear. It’s the beginning of a new month, which means it is time for another update of the web materials. [rub my nose ‘cause it still itches]. As much as I try to get things written well in advance of the deadline, life sometimes gets in the way. This puts the deadline for this project between “now” and the next twenty-four hours. Fortunately the steps to accomplishing this particular goal are few allowing me to stay within the project’s timeline [sip of coffee]. I have the individual discussion points and the flow of the article determined. Now it is just a matter of writing details for each discussion [rub nose].  

Issues with the tools of my trade interrupt the flow of ideas and words. My poor little laptop, purchased way back in the 20th century (1996), sometimes does not automatically save files as I type. The work-around for this problem is to periodically save my work as I type. The guy sitting across the café from me is also working on a much newer laptop. So clear is his monitor that I can tell he is creating 3-D architectural images for a house.  

Anyway…  

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