Tuesday 3 November 2009

Procrastination & Butt In Chair

I'm the queen of procrastination, a reigning monarch in the art of do-everything-else-but. Hence, here I am doing IndyWriMo - quite simply I need something like this to help prevent my book getting stuck halfway through. The best article I've ever read about this is by the magnificent Maggie Stiefvater entitled, "The Giant Butt-Kicking How to Write a Novel Post."



http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/120688.html



This helped me realise what I was doing which has basically been along the lines of admitting to myself that I desperately needed to do at least 1000 words today right after I'd sorted out the limescale on the shower or got that dog fur up from the kitchen floor. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting any of use should live in squalor for the whole of November. I found that just deciding that I'm already a writer and therefore had to find time to write virtually every day went a long way to getting things done. Sometimes it's just half an hour, other times it's half a day. I believe exercises like IndyWriMo has the potential to help me get a better writing ethic, just by simply doing it every day and of course the vital contact with other writers (yay for that).



But mostly I'd just like to beat my procrastination into a small ball and tidy it away, without limescale of course.

5 comments:

  1. i agree... That's a lot of my issue. Tonight I am hoping to write 2k words (which will probably be more like 1.5k) between my multiple projects tonight to try and make up my wordcount

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  2. Dear Limescale Tidier

    Mark knows exactly when I'm stuck on something...I tend to bake or cook something elaborate.

    Also, if I'm alone at home - I can't write. I drift from room to room and I read, make popcorn, watch a movie or sleep.

    It's official. I'm rubbish!

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  3. Great link and very true. The other point I have to keep in mind in order to get to the end (I can't remember who said it - Janet Reid?) - give yourself permission to suck.

    First drafts are not going to be perfect. Just write until you get to the end. Clean it up later.

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  4. RF - that is awesome advice and something I think a lot of newbie writers completely forget / don't get.

    ;-)

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  5. Clean it up later is v. good advice :) and yes, I am the phantom limescale tidier, lol.

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