Research vs. Writing

I’m probably not the first writer distracted from the job at hand by all the research materials. In our info age, it’s just so easy to start Googling and forget the objective. On the one hand, all this fascinating material is close by, on the other, well, there it is.

Here’s just a sampling of my current reading list:
Our Inner Ape
The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, & Bullying
The Art of Subtext
www.dumpbachmann.com
The Idiot’s Guide: Running a Bed & Breakfast
Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth

Because I ‘think’ I know how this plot is going to tie up, It’s easy to get distracted. The actual typing becomes tedious. It’s not like earlier works where the excitement was in just ‘making sh!t up’ (Enter Oblivion) or twisting memories (Mother Glory). And while I’ve known many writers who take years to come around to their focus, my latest novel is just too topical to sit on. So I really don’t have time to get all epic. But my brain seems to require a magic window of time to process all these themes at once.

Sure doesn’t help that my kids’ birthdays were today, my dogs will not stop barking and I’m trying to finish a client Web site and train for a bike race.

Yeah, I’ve definitely laid some traps for myself.