I’ve never been fond of Alice from Lewis Carroll’s ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. She’s easily bored, asks endless questions, and she’s often cross and disrespectful. In short, a brat.
She does make an easy Halloween costume for me if I run out of time, though—blue dress, white tights, black headband, trusty black flats, and I’m good to go. (Here’s a photo of me and the Queen at Crime Bake, years ago):
You’ve got to hand it to Alice. She’s a hundred percent confident she has things together, while all around her, others are losing their minds (and heads). Take the White Rabbit, for instance. An unpleasant fellow, nervous and twitchy, constantly glancing at his pocket watch in a panic over…Time.
Time as a concept meant little to Alice. I guess I’m more a White Rabbit kind of gal, especially when facing deadlines. But the literal sound of time passing—tick-tock—can be both unnerving and comforting. As a work-from-home mystery author, I should have plenty of time to get things done. I set my own schedule, work in yoga pants, and diligently mark important dates in my phone and planner as the retro Kit-Cat clock on my kitchen wall ticks blithely on.
But when I should be crafting convoluted murder plots–where timing and precision are everything–I often find myself falling straight down rabbit holes, to a chaotic wonderland of distractions. Social media sirens promise a quick, teensy scroll that turns into minutes—hours—adrift in the digital abyss. Add in essential household tasks, like disinfecting doorknobs or refolding laundry, plus a phone demanding my attention like the Duchess’s wailing baby that turns into a pig, and it’s Game Over.
Recently I became enthralled by a scientific article I randomly clicked on (right after the one offering spectacular new photos of the universe, courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope). I’m no physicist, but here’s the gist: Mathematically speaking, there is likely another exact me out there in some universe in another dimension of space and time. And she is doing exactly the same thing I’m doing right now. Writing a blog post for Chicks on the Case!
So really, measures of minutes/hours/days/years could actually mean…nothing. My cosmic doppelganger and I have all the time in the world—many worlds—to meet our deadlines. Chances are, at least one of us will finish her ms. in time. And I have to admit, from a different perspective, maybe bratty Alice was the perfect sleuth, doggedly trying to make sense of things that just got curiouser and curiouser. Hop a rocket, neurotic White Rabbit—and Alice, see you at Halloween!
Readers, what are your current favorite distractions—and how do you steel yourself against them? (Or not?)
Chicks on the Case 
There are quite a few distractions when I want to read or watch one of my favorite British mysteries on PBS. The biggest one is my husband who won’t wear his hearing aides and instead turns his ipad or tv up so loud that I can hear it word for word in the master bedroom over the tv I have on. Or if I’m busy answering IM’s and emails my cat decides it’s time to lay down in front of my laptop to take a nap, sometimes on top of my hands.
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We have similar distractions, Queen! Determined cat (takes the stool next to me at the kitchen counter as I work) and hubby watching sports or a 43rd Yellowstone weekend marathon. (Hubby points out that I do, in fact, have an actual office I could go to.)
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My pets! Our dog has Cushings Disease and has to go out to pee approximately 8,000 times a day. We’d put in a doggie door, but the kittens we adopted three years ago started checking it out, and we didn’t want them to escape, so we no longer use it. The cats also like to walk across my keyboard or sit on my lap while I’m trying to work. I know I should go to the library or coffee shop to work, but in an ironic twist of fate, I would miss those little rascals if I wasn’t home! haha
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So true, Diane! Can’t work with ’em, can’t work without ’em, lol.
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I’m pretty good at tuning out distractions when I really have to get to work. And if I don’t HAVE to work on something right that moment, is checking Facebook really a distraction?
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Oh, of course not, Liz!
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Hestia here.
I agree about Alice. I always thought there was something off with her.
My distractions when I’m trying to write?
The hubbs never bothers me unless I’m reading or writing. Then it’s every news article he reads he has to tell me about, blow by blow. Has he never heard of a blurb?
Or it’s time for us to binge watch something.
Yes, the hubbs is my main distraction, because he wants to be the center of attention. Even feigning sick when I get a cold, like this weekend. lol.
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Feed your head, Lisa! I just checked in on X — and Chicks. 😉
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Chicks doesn’t count as a distraction, Vickie. That’s a reading necessity!
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Ha, “Feed your head.” Nice Jefferson Airplane reference, Vickie! I honestly find myself worn out on social media, although I definitely do scroll. They just don’t last as long as they used to. In terms of procrastinating, lately I’ll avoid doing one business thing by doing another one. I spend a lot of time on Canva. But I should spend some of that procrastinating time actually organizing all those dang graphics instead of just making them!
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Ooo, I like that, El–replacing one biz thing with another. I prefer to think of that as highly effective multitasking…
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Ooooooo! That (literally) timeless doppelganger theory is absolutely fascinating! I plan to lean into that for the next deadline.
My favorite distraction is “research,” which is code for “messing around on the internet.” And, hey, sometimes it does yield fruit!
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Kathy, I completely agree! One never knows where that next plot or fun detail will come from, right?
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Oh, I definitely go down those research rabbit holes.
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But if it’s research, it’s perfectly fine, right? Right??
I don’t get distracted very easily. I’ve been my own boss since 1991 or so. I mostly do what I’m supposed to do from 9-4. But some days I’ll be eating lunch, listening to NPR, doing a crossword or jigsaw puzzle and forget to set an alarm. Yikes … waaay too much time lost! Ugh.
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I so agree!
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I love this post so much, Lisa! I’ve always been fascinated by the “Alice” books–Lewis Carroll was a such a strange and brilliant man. (There are zillions of Carroll references in “Finnegans Wake,” BTY. James Joyce loved his writings, and was inspired by his creative use of language–especially what Carroll termed “portmanteau” words–when writing the “Wake.”) Alice is definitely a flawed human–bossy, nosy, and rude, but I love her confidence. And it’s not as if most of the other characters are particularly charming and sweet, either, lol.
As for distractions, I spend far too much time messing around online, alas. But the things you discover in that Wonderland….
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Leslie, I gave Alice and the Cheshire Cat a shoutout in my last ms.,lol. And Jabberwocky is my 3.5 yo grandlittle’s favorite (also his dad’s). Maybe we should try him with the moo-cow next. And I wonder, since Carroll was allegedly making up the story for his niece, if she insisted on being accurately portrayed.
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Yes to the moo-cow!
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Sadly, I distract myself by refreshing my email–though would I really get a new message within minutes? And I also like checking out Yelp to see if there are new restaurants popping up in the local area.
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Jen, these days we really do get a new message or reply in minutes! (I do the same thing, lol). And restaurant research is extremely important.
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The internet is wonderful at providing all kinds of distractions. I need to get better at ignoring them.
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Ah Lisa — I adore you and your James-Webb- theorized twin.
Ruth
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We all have a doppelganger here on Earth, so they say. I have encountered people who thought that I was someone else because I looked exactly like the other person, but I have never met another me. Each day, before I come downstairs, I say that I will go upstairs and work on my organizing of family photos and papers for an hour each day. But I never do. I go upstairs to work on a jigsaw puzzle, but the other work does not get done. My bonus room is a mess. One of these days, I will really start doing it. I have even bought plastic boxes to file and label each person’s (one box for my maternal grandmother and grandfather, one for my paternal grandfather and grandmother, one for my Daddy before mother, one for mother before Daddy, one of their years together, one of his army service, one of his being postmaster for 20 years, one for his movie theatre career from usher in 1930 until leaving as district manager of 4 theatres in 1962 to be postmaster, etc.. Then put the things in each box. They saved everything. Then once that is done, I am going to put things in plastic sleeves in binders and organize in date order from early to late. I have also bought photo files in a big box to put all of the years of our photos and organize them by years. Right now, they are all in the envelopes they came back from being printed and in boxes. This blog has made me at least decide to go up tomorrow and label the boxes and start organizing. Besides the jigsaw puzzle, playing solitaire and free cell solitaire, words with friends, candy crush saga, reading, watching old movies also distracts me. Then there is the sweet pup who needs attention and Hubby Dearest. The problem is that none of that starts until noon. So not enough hours in the day.
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