Getting Lost in Rabbit Holes

I love language and I love history. So when I’m writing my stories, largely historical fiction, both need my attention. And precision. Although I’m a "recovering" perfectionist, I do like to get historical facts and word usage right. So, it’s incredibly easy for me to go down research rabbit holes.

Factor in my voracious curiosity and I could spend hours on a single paragraph in my story.

The problem isn’t that I go off on useless tangents. Often, these rabbit holes reveal facts or inspire ideas that I can apply elsewhere in my writing, in this story or in others.

The problem with rabbit holes for me is that they often delay my completion of what’s right in front of me—the current WIP. Rather than dipping in and cutting out of the research when I find my answer, I enter it with purpose but then wander languorously… for the same reason I stated above that these rabbit holes aren’t useless: they reveal facts or inspire ideas!

Do you see a vicious cycle being set up here? A vortex, really, when you consider how many stories I have unfinished, ideas not fully fleshed out. Very little completed.

It’s time to turn on its head this “excuse” for doing more and more research. I need to set boundaries before diving in. Any suggestions?

The type of boundary I see as most accessible in this case is one of time, limiting my research to short, reasonable stints. Once I find what I’m looking for or once they end, whichever comes first, I return to writing. If I don’t find what I’m looking for in the time allotted, I’ll put a placeholder in my document and return to it another time… but writing must take priority.

Maybe I should run to Walmart and get one of those old-fashioned egg timers. Do they still make those? I wonder who invented them. Let me look that up….

Early egg timers were hourglasses that came into use in Medieval Europe in the 14th century. No one knows who invented the eg…

BUZZZZZ.

Prompt: What ‘distractions,’ good or bad, affect your writing? What could you do to create boundaries around them so your writing is supported instead? If your writing requires research, how do you deal with the rabbit holes?