Finding the Time to Procrastinate

How do we make sure that when we find the time to sit down and write we are motivated and ready to write?  Do you ever sit down at the computer only to find yourself surfing the internet instead of writing?  I can find a million things to do to put off writing.  My favorite is playing on my I-Phone, what’s yours?

As a hard core procrastinator I will put things off to the last minute knowing that I will get it done on time.  In college I liked to say that there was no better form of creativity then the last minute.  That has been the problem with my first draft: there is no last minute, it has been too easy to put off, and a week or two of putting it off it is easy to say that you don’t have the time to get back to it.  Then when you do get back it is almost like starting over.  In one sense you have fresh eyes to look at what you had written, but on the other side is the fact that you need to shake the rust off and reconnect with the story.

Having decided to take my writing career seriously I must now confront the task of making my time at the keyboard a priority.  More to the point the struggle becomes making sure it is quality writing time.   Not an hour here or there but large blocks of writing where real progress takes place.  Writing needs to become a part of your life day in and day out.  A daily event that is thought about, looked forward to, and anticipated.  Then when we sit down we do not have to wait for the words to come to us but can instead let the words flow out of us. 

Many of you are probably like me.  By the time I sit down to write it is usually ten at night or later.  Fitting in time at the keyboard between my jobs, raising the kids, helping out with their activities, helping take care of the house, and all the little things that come up in life can be a challenge.   For me I plan on making sure that I write every day even if it is only a little.  Part of being an aspiring author is to aspire to make writing your profession.  This means goals, deadlines.

My goal is 3 to 4 hours a day writing.   My deadline:  a finished first draft by the 4^th of July

So far bursts of writing over the past few years have gotten my first novel past concept and outlining and to a total of just over 25,000 words.  Now it’s time to finish what I have started. 

Ready, set, write.