I’ve worked with several clients lately who were able to sit down and begin writing, but found themselves feeling restless and distracted after 15 minutes to half an hour.  They all concluded that they had a ridiculously short attention span.  This isn’t true, of course.  The problem, once again, is anxiety.

For some writers, the initial sitting down and beginning to write is not the main obstacle.  They have no trouble starting the short story, the academic paper, the column they plan to compose.  And for some time, these writers can type happily along, feeling competent and productive.  Then, out of the blue, they feel a compulsion to check their email or to answer a telephone message they received the day before.  Or they suddenly need to find a recipe on the Internet.  Or practice the yoga they have  neglected for two weeks.  While they may not experience their restlessness or distraction as discomfort around writing, their desire to stop writing and engage in another activity is a way to avoid the anxiety they actually feel.  We don’t have to be aware of it to feel anxious.

Taking a moment or two break to recharge your writing batteries can certainly be helpful.  But turning your attention away from what you were writing for more than a short time is never productive.  In the first place, most often, the writers I work with find that they  don’t return to their original writing.  They become so involved with their email or their yoga, that by the time they think about writing again, they’ve run out of time.  Or if they make another attempt at writing, enough time has gone by that they have lost all their momentum and it takes them so long to reengage that they become discouraged and close their notebook or shut down their computer.

What works best for writers who struggle with  a strong desire to stop writing soon after they have started is first, to pick a break activity that won’t lure you completely away from your writing.  For some writers, a quick walk around the block does the trick.  For others, listening to a track from a favorite CD does this trick.  For still others,  shifting their writing location is effective.  Each of us is different and should tailor our writing process to our personal taste and desires.   Second, it’s important to set a maximum amount of time for the writing break, five to ten minutes at the most.  It’s also best if the activity and the length remain constant over time.  That way, you associate them with writing only, and you are much more likely to return to your story, your paper or your column once the allotted time has elapsed.  In fact, after you repeat your  ”writing break behavior” for a month or so, returning to your writing may become a conditioned response.