Life in progress

Diversion – #AtoZChallenge

31 Comments

May I divert your attention here for a moment?

The first thing that springs to mind when I see the word “diversion” is magic. Which isn’t surprising, since I’ve been writing and editing a novel (or three) about a magician called “The Great Dagmaru” for the past five and a half years. Making someone look the other way is an art, whether it’s in order to perform a trick behind their back or whether it’s to cause them to pay more attention to you.

Yet some might say it’s easier now to create a diversion: our attention spans are shortening with so much going on around us and in our own living rooms, on our screens where everything is the next biggest or cutest spectacle.  For as far as entertainment goes, it seems to me that those of us who still read novels are the last holdouts of the ability to concentrate. And still, so many books, so little time. A novel must capture the reader’s attention in the space of a few sentences or it will be passed over. And authors wonder why the blurb is so much harder to write than the book itself.

Oh look! It’s a chipmunk.

But I digress.

All this talk about diversions and how they entertain has led me to seek the difference between a diversion and a distraction. According to my trusty thesaurus, it seems diversions are happy things and distractions are less-than-desirable things. Somewhat. The synonyms for distraction range from “delirium” to “relief.”

One way or another, diversions and distractions add up to procrastination.

***

Looking for a fun diversion? Look no further. Please check out my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“Delightful, Light-hearted tale with great twists!” ~ Lori Carleson, 5 stars, Amazon review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories

 

Author: Linda G. Hill

There's a writer in here, clawing her way out.

31 thoughts on “Diversion – #AtoZChallenge

  1. Ahh…you are seriously hilarious!

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  2. ADD here. Diversions that should bring me back to the moment very soon are lost to the shiny chicken distractions everywhere!

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  3. I am pretty easily diverted, especially when surfing the net! 🙂

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  4. I hate writing blurb! Nice post.

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  5. Distractions are much worse than diversions when driving

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  6. Too often, diversions are distractions, aren’t they? That’s really not how many of them started–at least in my case!

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  7. Most of my diversions are distractions…

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  8. I needed a diversion this week. Not a great one!😂

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  9. Chipmunks deserve your attention 🙂

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  10. Most all my distractions are diversions. I say that because I enjoy almost every distraction I get into, thus, I tend to let them become diversions. 😀

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  11. I am often distracted. I am going to start using the word diversion instead. It sounds better after reading your post.

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  12. I tend to find diversions to doing my work all the time. 😉

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