What keeps me from working . . .

Yesterday was errand day.  Gas up the car, go to the bank, and hit the grocery store.

I don't look forward to errand day.  For some reason, it always messes up my writing day.  I left an hour earlier than usual yesterday, thinking that would help me get back into the writing groove at the usual time, but it didn't work.

After all the errands were done, I kept thinking about the stuff that DIDN'T get done.  I have hardly begun my Christmas shopping, and a lot of it has to be mailed.  It's been snowy.  I don't like going out in the snow, parking, getting into the store, not finding what I want, going back out in the cold, driving somewhere else.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

I want to go see the Harry Potter movie.  That will kill an entire afternoon, and since I do most of my writing in the afternoon--there's another day gone.

I have to keep reminding myself that writing books is my job and I need to stop letting interruptions keep me from my work.

Of course, the fact that I'm writing something that's REALLY BIG is sometimes also a stumbling block.  Writers usually worry about the sagging middle of a story, but this event--which I didn't even know I would be adding to the story until Saturday--is sure to keep readers turning those pages.  And the aftermath of this event is going to keep that aspect of the story alive for the rest of the book.

Sometimes when I'm writing these REALLY BIG PARTS I have to approach the computer as though it was about to explode.  Be gentle lest it blows sky high, taking me with it.  (Stupid, but that's the way I work.)  So while I really WANT to write this part, I'm afraid of messing it up big time.

In the end, it will all work out (it always does), but right now...Oy!

How do you approach difficult parts of your job?