We talk lots about being distracted from
writing, but what if the writing is the distraction? I found this last month
when I was faced with what is one of my greatest fears – being stuck in a metal
tube high up in the sky for four hours.
That’s right, I hate flying. Although I
have got a lot better over the years (I can now talk, eat and even read a bit
while I fly), it is generally a nerve-wracking experience. I cope by drinking a
few gin and tonics but if it gets a bit bumpy it’s
hold-the-arm-rests-and-grimace time. Which is where I found myself in
mid-August on the way to Gran Canaria with my lovely family.
It was my husband that suggested writing a
blog while we flew. Reading wasn’t holding my attention and he really wanted to
be taking photos out of the window instead of attending to his irrational wife.
Luckily I always bring notebooks and pens for my son, so I had some to hand.
And it was magic. I wrote a blog (which wasn’t that good so I am rewriting it
here) then about 500 words of our novel. I had no notes or plot lines to look
at it so it was a bit of a free writing experience.
While I was writing furiously, my mind was
taken off the evil flying experience. Until the crew came round asking if I needed
another G&T (the answer was yes, obviously). It was a strange thing, where
normally we are fighting to write when we have other distractions, that writing
was actually the distraction I needed.
I found out when I got back and put it
online that we had actually covered the scene before but I liked what I wrote
so I gelled it together. I was able to fill out the scene with a bit more
detail and bring it in with the other plot lines and character developments we
have been working on through the podcast.
So there you go – Fear of flying? Travel with
a notebook!
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| Taken just after we got off the plane - the relief! |
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