We can't help it. It's how we're wired. My eldest son plays the bass guitar for relaxation after teaching 8th graders all day. He can name every note to certain songs, yet he'll lock himself out of the house in a minute. My youngest son has wrestled since the 4th grade. Mention a match in his junior year of high school and he can tell you every move he made. Yet he can't recall if he wished his dad happy birthday. We're wired to focus on what's important to us.
Sometimes we have to teach ourselves to let things fall on deaf ears so we can focus on what's of primary interest to us.
One of the best places for me to write is our local Bob Evans Restaurant. The staff knows us both by name, knows to hook me up to an IV of coffee and what our order will be--no menus needed--just bring me French Toast. We camp out in a booth for three to four hours. Then we move to McDonalds for an ice cream cone and two more hours of writing. Calvin delves into his iPad and scours the papers. He is a news hound.
People have asked how can I write in a restaurant? How can I block out the noise?
It's easy. I live with Calvin.
Calvin is very hard of hearing and wears hearing aides in each ear. He also can't stand a quiet room. So, in the morning as he's getting dressed and I'm reading emails, he has Bach playing in the bedroom and a news channel on the TV. He shuffles out to the kitchen, turns on Mozart on my CD player there and then pours a cup of coffee to carry back into the bedroom. I now have Bach, Mozart and the news assaulting my ears.
Later, he goes into the small bedroom to ride the stationary bike and turns on CD's of French singers and a different news station. My brain is ready to burst. A half-hour later, he's in the den watching a crime drama and playing jazz music. It occurs to him he needs a screw driver or a hammer, so he goes into the garage, turns on the TV out there and the stereo where he plays down and dirty blues. This man with a Masters degree only knows how to turn things "on," never, ever "off." Meanwhile, I am left to listen to a cacophony of television and music. But let me turn one thing off and old "my ears are bad" can hear its absence at fifty paces.
So, how can I go into a zone and write in a restaurant, oblivious to the comings and goings of others? It's a talent my husband taught me.
Vonnie's had two books released in the last 6 weeks. A paranormal romance from Random House Loveswept, book one of her Highland Beloved series--A HIGHLANDER'S OBSESSION.
http://amzn.com/B00ILX9WC0
Book one of her "Wild Heat" series from HarperImpulse--HOW TO SEDUCE A FIREMAN.
http://amzn.com/B00ME1OWD4
