How to keep your brain on one thing long enough to get a thing done.
I imagine this is what ADD is like. I sit down to do something: read, write, compose an email, update the Uptown Express website, etc. And my brain pounces, suggesting a hundred other things that need to be done: groceries, cleaning, scooping the cat box, saving the world. That sort of thing. And off I go to check Facebook or see what movies are opening this weekend.
Lately, the aggregate effect of this cranial train wreck is that my task list is more backed up than the Lincoln Tunnel on a holiday weekend. In other words, while my brain fixates on getting everything done, I accomplish nothing. Le sigh.
Today’s solution is the coffeehouse, where many of my distractions are a few blocks away, at home. My neighborhood fave is Sit & Wonder, super cute and super popular. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of my mocha, upon which the barista lady had managed to craft a recognizable flaming heart, ala House of Blues, in foam. Brava!
While the combo of caffeine and cacao is magical, it does not help me puzzle out which writing project comes next. I am currently editing two short stories and a novel, stalled on two novel projects and numerous stories, and have one older story to completely rewrite. Meanwhile, I got a story back, unwinning, from the 2010 fourth quarter of the Writers of the Future contest that I need to figure out what to do with next.
Which means it’s time to pin my struggling brain down and get it to focus on one thing. Not forever, just long enough to finish something, so I can get some stories out there in the big, wild marketplace.
I’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile, if anyone has tips on reigning in the brain crazies, post them here!
A lifetime of creativity 
Keep notecards on your desk, in your jacket, by the bed.
Every thing you think to do, write down and then put aside. This way you can keep on target, but not forget anything. It’s the only way I can get things done.