Procrastination

Procrastination is about the internal belief that now isn’t the time and that later will be better. There are many versions of this belief but let’s be real, they all end up in the same place.

I for one, as a writer, try a lot of strategies that many say will help me finish my book, but actually have hurt my progress.

Disaster #1: Trying to force myself to write with more willpower.

Disaster #2 Learning about writing instead of actually writing.

Disaster #3: Thinking that I need to get away, a retreat, escape my normal life, in order to write.

Disaster #4: Waiting to write later, when it’s easier.

Disaster #5: Quitting

Inspiration may be what we are lacking! Changing our mindset into that of a positive one instead of a negative one.

• I may not feel ready, but I am.
• I may not want to do this hard thing, but I will get started.
• I may not beieve I can, but I will anyway.

Create a reason why NOW is the best time to write and not LATER. We need a reason why now is the best time, and set ourselves an attainable goal.

The psychological idea is to trick our minds into believing we can do this.

We have to remind ourself that every writer, the best of the best, has faced procrastination before. How long? That I can’t answer. I do know that procrastination won’t stop us.

There is an easy calculation process that we may use to help make writing that 80,000 word novel seem less daunting.

Step 1: Let’s pick a final deadline to finish our book.

Step 2: Calculate our weekly writing goal. Ex. Your weekly word count is the number of words you’ll need to write each week in order to finish by our deadline.

80,000 x 14.5 weeks= 5500 words per week, or little more than 1000 words per weekday.

Step 3: Put our writing goal on the calendar and stick to it.

If you would like to add to any of these tips, let us know here in my site, by leaving a comment. Share your writing strategies with others.