Interesting displacement activity…
Sit at computer, bring up blank page, make a cup of tea. Sit at computer, look at blank page, do the washing up. Duration: 1 hour. Word count: 0
If this sounds like your typical writing pattern, you’ve got plenty of company. The sudden urge to do housework, rearrange books, check your bank statement- when you really ought to be writing is known as ‘Displacement activity’.
Displacement activity is the bane of a writer’s life. It’s the phrase writers have for all the stuff you do that is not the stuff you are SUPPOSED to be doing. Avoidance is probably a more readily understood term, but doesn’t sound half as writerly. What happens is a little ‘displacement monkey’ in your mind distracts you from the task at hand, by urging you to ‘make another cup of tea/check the TV guide/your bank account/ebay/post on this blog : ) rather than crack on with that difficult piece of dialogue you’re trying to get down.
I don’t believe displacement activities are wholly bad. I feel they sometimes happen for a reason. Perhaps what you’re working on needs time to settle, or percolate in your mind and after you’ve bought those gloves on ebay, it will all come together. However, I admit, I think I’d get a lot more writing done if I didn’t have an Internet connection in my office… I know a few writers who keep their displacement activity on hand – as another creative hobby such as painting, and they believe one such activity complements and feeds the other. So, they may start painting and then half way through THAT activity they’ll turn back to their writing as a displacement activity for their painting and so on…
As with everything in writing, if you find your displacement activity works for you, then go knock yourself out with it. If it is a hindrance, then find a way to stop it distracting you such as getting a room with no internet connection…
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About suehealy
From Ireland, Sue Healy is Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre, London, a full-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln. Her book on theatre literary management is published by Routledge, December 2022.
Sue is an award-winning writer for stage, TV, and prose writer.
TV
Her current project, a 6x60minute TV series, is under option. She is under commission with Lone Wolf Media, producers behind PBS’ “Mercy Street”, to co-write the pilot and treatment for a six-part TV series.
Stage
Her most recent stage-play, Imaginationship (2018), enjoyed a sold out, extended run at the Finborough and later showed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Her previous stage productions include Cow (Etcetera Theatre, 2017) and Brazen (King’s Head Theatre, 2016), funded by Arts Council England. Sue’s short plays have been performed at the Criterion (Criterion New Writing Showcase), Arcola (The Miniaturists) and Hackney Attic (Fizzy Sherbet Shorts).
Radio
Her radio work includes nine plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Opening Lines winner), WLRfm and KCLR96fm.
Prose
Sue has won The Molly Keane Award, HISSAC Prize, Escalator Award, Meridian Prize and has been published in nine literary journals and anthologies including: The Moth, Flight, Tainted Innocence, New Writer, Duality, HISSAC, New European Writers. She has been writer-in-residence on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, and at the Heinrich Boll Cottage on Achill Island. She has also benefitted from annual artist residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and at Ginestrelle, Assisi in Italy.
An academic with a PhD in modern theatre history, specifically the Royal Court Theatre, Sue has presented her research internationally. She spent eleven years in Budapest, editing Hungary A.M. She has a PhD in modern theatre history (Royal Court Theatre) and is a UEA Creative Writing MA alumnus.
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suehealy 
November 17th, 2012 at 20:48
Sooooo happy to final have a name for my inspired procrastination whenever I sit down to write, “displacement activity”! Thanks for sharing…
November 17th, 2012 at 21:16
[…] The Divil in Displacement (suehealy.org) […]
November 17th, 2012 at 21:45
Thanks, Sue – I can say “Amen” to all of that! I find creative writing to be emotional work, so sometimes interspersing a bit of plant-watering or laundry is a nice compliment to it. The trick is getting *back* to the writing! One thing that used to be a “displacement activity” for me is watching a movie. These days, whenever I see a movie, it’s as if someone’s turned the spigot on, and I *must* write afterwards. Thanks for the post. Happy Thanksgiving!
November 17th, 2012 at 23:26
Used to do anything but write, when I had no job, as I felt guilty ‘playing.’ Now I really do have things that need done (I can’t remember the last time I mopped the floors, YUCK) so I still don’t write, really. I’m missing my one and only book lately, but still…
November 18th, 2012 at 15:14
[…] Sue Healy – An Irish born writer whose short stories and dramas have won numerous awards. Her blog addresses the day-ins and day-outs of the writing craft. […]
November 19th, 2012 at 17:06
It also happens to artists, the creative spark gets lost.
November 26th, 2012 at 22:21
Oooh, so THAT’s the problem…with everything I try to get done. Thanks for the clarification and tip. 🙂
December 10th, 2012 at 14:05
[…] Activity. Sue Healy recently posted about it and instantly I knew she was right. Take a look athttps://suehealy.org/2012/11/17/the-divil-in-displacement/ I have long known that I do this with housework. Well, it’s boring, isn’t it? So I […]