Over the last year, a consistent theme has emerged in my discussions with writers around the country: They feel distracted. While that distraction is often connected to social media, it’s just as much about current events that we observe through social media. There’s a never-ending and chaotic feed of news that crowds out those things that remain (or at least once felt) important to us.
What is to be done?
I admire and recommend Lee Conell’s way of dealing with distraction in this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin:
I decided that distraction did not have to be something to beat myself up over. It could be an asset. It could even be a kind of craft tool. After all, the more I let my mind wanderings play out, the more I noticed that most of my thoughts also had to do with narrative: A plot twist in the news. … If I gave it time, all of my distractions funneled themselves into something like fiction.
Keep reading The Art of Distraction.
Also in this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin:
- On Spaceships by Arianna Reiche
- Constraint as a Method of Surprise by Chase Burke
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
