What Are You Putting Off?

"Delay is the deadliest form of denial." ~ C. NORTHCOTE PARKINSON

I came across the above quote recently and it jabbed me. Turning it over, I admitted its truth--not in all circumstances--but in many. Delay really does equal denial.

Delaying something, for me, means one of two things. Either:
a. I am uncertain if it's the right path to take or
b. I'm procrastinating.

All week I've been on a mission to catch up with life. The endless school forms have been signed and turned in. Meals are planned. Closets organized. Bills paid. Volunteer tasks up-to-date. Yes, I still have a huge pile of clothes ready to be folded and dropped at Goodwill. My writing progress has been slow. Steady, but slow.

I'm working hard not to delay. To get in motion. To make progress, even a little, each day.

If I don't, my brain hurts and my gaze skims over the things needing to be done. I slip into denial. The task doesn't disappear. It looms in the back of my mind until I dread it.

It's much easier to do it now than to wait until later.

What are you putting off? Can you take one step forward today?

Have a lovely weekend!

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Still Haven't Hung the Curtains

Time for a quick update on my bedroom curtain situation. Back on April 29, 2013, I shared the sad saga of my latest decorating failure in "How Long Will it Take Me to Hang These Curtains?"

It is now July 12, 2013, and I DID attempt to get those curtains hung. We purchased super cheap curtain rods--I'm talking five bucks a piece!!--unfurled the curtains and installed one pair. Unfortunately, the rods didn't extend over our current mini-blinds.

The result? Yikes. Picture bunched-up curtains trying to jump over a thick bar. *shivers*

So my hubby took down the rod, and I returned all three of them to the store. Yes, in hindsight it would have made sense for me to purchase new, appropriate rods right then. But...I was lazy. And frugal. Do you know how much the good ones cost? I'm tempted to throw a broomstick on a meat hook and call it good.

That being said, I love the curtains. I look forward to seeing them frame my windows. Someday. :)

#DecorationFail.

Let's hear it. What project still lingers unfinished at your house?

Have an awesome weekend!!

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WSG 2: The Art of Not Writing

Writer's Survival Guide 2: The Art of Not Writing

Have you ever opened your work-in-progress and had no idea what to write next? (Yeah, I know, every day, right? Ha!) Well, this happens to me too. Inspired by the fabulous Jessica R. Patch who generously shared her vlogging tips, I decided to help you make the most of your "not" writing session, vloggy style.

Here's how I procrastinate.

If you have your own special style of avoiding writing, please share! I love to hear how you procrastinate!

Enjoy your Monday!

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The Lull Between Projects

This week we're looking at the lull between projects. It's a breeding ground for procrastination. So we're going to focus on building an idea bank to get us through those times. When you're chomping at the bit to write your next great story, you won't feel the urge to procrastinate.

When you finish a project, you feel quite justified in taking a little time off. You've earned it, right? Absolutely! Take a pre-determined time to relax, recharge, and linger over the possiblities of your next piece. When that pre-determined time has come to an end, start your next project.

But what happens when the week (or month) ends and you don't start your next project? P-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n. Sorry, but it's true. The longer you take to start writing again, the harder it will be.

I don't know what to write. All of my ideas are lame. I couldn't possibly top the last story I wrote.

Those are all viscious lies we tell ourselves. They aren't true. You can't use up ideas--they are truly limitless. Trust me on this!

Limitless ideas? Ha! You're crazy!

Well, sometimes I am crazy but not about this. The key is to listen to all the ideas that come your way and not poo-poo any of them. No, you won't use every idea that pops in your head, but when you get used to listening to them, you'll use the best ones that come to mind.

I don't even get one idea in my head

Is that true? Really? You listen to the radio, watch the nightly news, or read magazines, yes? No one lives in a vacuum. Interesting stories come to us on a daily basis.

Join me on Wednesday when we'll discuss how to take those interesting idea kernels and expand on them to come up with fabulous plots.

And...

Get Motivated! It's Monday!

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Kicking Procrastination To the Curb

It would be easy for me to say "just do it" to whatever it is you're avoiding, but, I won't mislead you. If it were that easy, no one would procrastinate!

I've found a few helpful ways to skirt around the problem. What's at the top of my list? That's easy. Accountability. I'm not talking about accountability to myself, although I need that too; no, I'm talking about reaching out to a friend, family member, or writing buddy to keep me on track.


Since my preferred method of communication is e-mail, I typically write a whiney, boring note about how I don't feel like writing, my nose is stuffy, I'm out of chocolate, my book stinks, nothing good will ever come of writing, etc... I'll tell the recipient I'll check with them later to report my progress. Then I force myself to sit and write one page. Just one.


One page often leads to two, which leads to three, and what do you know? I'm writing again! I then e-mail my earlier victim with news of victory, feeling on top of the world.

What about more stubborn cases though? Last summer, I had a heavy bout of the doubts. Procrastination was inevitable. I still forced myself to stick to my writing goals. Trust me, it wasn't easy. There were days every word felt like it was being squeezed out of me. Even though the rough writing period felt endless, it gradually came to an end.

I'm glad I went through that, because it reminded me of the constant changes in life. Not everything we write will come easily, but that doesn't mean the end result isn't worth it. Our daily life affects our writing, and it's important to remember that good writing isn't necessarily the result of good feelings. I might struggle with writing one week because a family member is troubled, but that doesn't mean what I wrote that week was any worse than the stuff I wrote while in a good mood.

The only way to get through procrastination is to plow through. It might be difficult; your writing might not be as good as you want, but your discipline will get you through it. You can always fix problems later!

Another cause of procrastination is the lack of a project. Say you finished a story or book and now you have no idea what to work on. Instead of developing an earlier project, or coming up with a new idea, you do nothing. Procrastination equals paralysis.

Join me next week. We're going to talk about attracting ideas like magnets. You won't want to procrastinate if you have a file full of great ideas!

Enjoy your weekend!

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Procrastination. Don't Do It.

Procrastinate? Me? Never... Ha! Ha!


I could bore you to tears with the list of ridiculous things I do when I'm avoiding my laptop. Let's just say I've been known to fill in cupboard scratches with a wax crayon, I've vacuumed the baseboards, and I've even re-organized the fridge. Scary.

Yes, I know all about procrastination. If I've been away from my story a few days, weeks, or months, it feels as if it will take the jaws of life to get me writing again. When I avoid writing, I know I've been too far away from it. And that, my friends, breeds procrastination.


Remember back to a time when you were so engrossed in a story you were writing, time seemed to slip away. The story was so good, so compelling, you couldn't stand to be away from it. But time moved on, and you had a wedding to attend or some other distraction, and when you returned to write, what happened? Fear clutched in your heart and the doubts began to swirl. Was the story really as good as you thought? Where had you left off? Would you be able to get back into it? Maybe the plot wasn't the masterpiece you'd been so certain of?


Did you dive right back into the story? Yes? Good for you!


No? Me neither. Time away from your story can be deadly.


That's why it's so important to adhere to a regular writing schedule. The calendar doesn't lie. Whether I feel like it or not, I write. I tell myself it doesn't have to be any good; I can always fix it later. And, what do you know? I usually get right back into the story. Once again, the story is a masterpiece...


I lose NO days of writing to procrastination. (However, I do lose a few here or there due to other circumstances!)


Hey--maybe we should make that our mantra?


I LOSE NO WRITING DAYS TO PROCRASTINATION!!


I might even shake my fist in the air while shouting it. That might scare the cat. Hmm...


Join me on Friday. We'll be making a list (and checking it twice) of ways we can beat procrastination.


And...


Write Already! It's Wednesday!

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Bad Writing Week

Having a bad writing week. The more I procrastinate the more I dread adding to my current book. How do I know it's bad? Well...I just filled in a scratch in my cupboard with a wood wax crayon thingy. I've had that crayon for 7 months and hadn't felt the urge to use it until this morning. You do the math.


I know, I know. So what? One little scratch...not so fast. Our good coffee maker broke a few days ago; this morning, I took apart the entire thing and cleaned it--thoroughly. Every dirty dish in the house was scrubbed this morning. Every counter wiped down. Lint was picked up off of the stairs. Here's the worst: I was actually considering cleaning out the cat litter. Or stripping every bed and washing all of the sheets.


Window washing entered my mind. I stopped to get an oil change this morning, but drove away when they quoted me an outrageous price. Even toyed with returning a few items to Walmart. I'm on my second ginormous cup of coffee--usually a writing help. Not today. Can I just go take a seven hour nap? No? Fine.


I will write. But it won't be pretty.


So there.

Enjoy your week!

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First Draft

I've been waiting for it with breathless anticipation and a slight dread that the words will not come. I call it First-Draft-Land--my happy, happy place. I'm sure not every author loves writing the first draft as much as I do, but every author must tackle that first draft, nonetheless.


There are a million ways to approach a new book. I am a self-described organized writer. Before I even think about firing up that laptop, I spend time researching my characters, the setting, the plot twists; I cannot imagine writing a single word without having a brief outline in front of me. It's like mapping out the journey before a long trip--some find it necessary, others do better winging it.


Even though I'd finished gathering background information a few weeks ago and had dreamt about this week for quite a while, I wasn't ready to take the plunge and start writing. Why wasn't I ready? Good question. Well, the best answer is that sometimes the planets need to align and other miracles of the universe need to occur before I'm ready to face the first blank page.


On Monday, I opened the laptop (after grocery shopping, cleaning cat litter, and sorting laundry--bleh! Was I procrastinating? Hmm...), and my cat decided to hoist herself onto the desk and use my open laptop as her napping spot. Since I'd never seen her do this before, I could have taken it as a bad sign, but I reminded myself that the planets had aligned and other miracles of the universe had occurred and Monday was definitely the day to start writing.


The words, "Chapter One," stared at me for a long time. The blinking cursor lulled me into some sort of trance. Breaking my gaze free, I went downstairs to make a grilled cheese sandwich. On the way back up, I threw in another load of laundry. I sat back down. Cat meowed incessantly as my fingers, poised to begin typing, hovered above the keyboard.


Nothing.


But then...I just forced myself. The opening line of my first draft is always, and I mean ALWAYS, horrific. Only in the revision stages does the first line remotely shine. But the pressure to build a great opening line haunted me, so I tinkered with it for far too long before telling myself to move on already!


Do you know how great it feels to be writing another book? It's magnificent! There may be something slightly off in my brain, because I truly love deleting my ridiculous first line over and over to come up with a sassy opening. Joy fills me as my characters come to life and dictate the scene. The book was a shadow in my mind but now is filling with color, and nothing could tear me away from writing every day. Not even my gigantic, meddling cat.


Wish me luck as the draft takes shape. I've gotten over my worst first draft hurdle: writing the first line. I wonder what other authors' worst hurdles are? Hmm...I'll have to start asking around. Enjoy your week!

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