Sunday, January 15, 2012

WHY ARE YOU NOT WRITING?

Since Science and Nerds are all the rage these days, let's take the scientific approach to this mystery: why are you not writing?

Examine what you are doing instead of writing. Make a little chart, even if you only do it by hand--gasp!--make a chart of yesterday, or whichever day it was that you meant to fill with a word-count, but failed miserably. If it's today, then start at the top with "Read a blog instead."
Followed by "Made a second breakfast instead," or whatever.

The trick is to write down what you did, followed by the word 'instead.' It will help you realized that you chose to do those things instead of writing. You gave them higher priority.

And after you've filled the page, take a look. Were half the things you chose to do silly little time-sucks?

As Sheldon Cooper might conclude, perhaps you don't want to write after all. Maybe the next little section of time-suck can be spent examining why you do or do not want to write after all.

With all the avenues for publication out there--if publication is your goal--you're going to need to a lot of product to sell. If you only needed to be able to say, "I finished the Great American Novel," then feel free to pet your pretty GAN. Trot it out for company. Trim it's toenails now and then. Buy it a pretty bow. But here's the important part:

You don't need to waste your time visiting blogs like this. You might be better off looking for pet accessories.

For the rest of you, those who've come here truly looking for a way to get your butt in the chair, attach an imaginary GPS to your arse and follow it around for a while. It's cheating on you. It's cheating you out of your dream and it's time for an intervention.

DO EET! DO EET NOOOOW!

6 comments:

Sandy L. Rowland said...

Words well said.
I need to get my butt in the chair and get a lot of product to sell.
No other way to make e-publishing work.
At least not effectively.

Great post.
And it was better than buying pet stuff.

ladystef said...

I think we all need to face this once in a while, okay more than once in a while. If we are writers we need to write consistently and make it a priority.

L.L. Muir said...

I needed to kick my own butt, actually. So much to write. So little time.
I'm putting time in on the computer, but it's all going onto the internet, not onto a sellable page!

Thanks for chiming in ladies! Glad I'm not alone.

Doree L Anderson said...

Que. I agree. I sit, my butt gets raw and my arse is tired, I get up with nothing accomplished. Way to kick us into gettin 'er done.

Wendy S Hales said...

Usually if I can just focus on one voice/story and get the others to shut the hell up for a second. Any suggestions for the Me Myself & Irene thing? I'll use Velcro to keep my butt in the chair J.

L.L. Muir said...

Actually, I do have a suggestion for Myself and Irene...

I have the same problem. Too many worlds or voices swirling in my head. So I do a little mental exercise when I sit down.

I have this small library in my head. There's a giant, thick, dark table in the center with a big book open for every 'window' I have open in my head.

One by one, I go through and shut the books and put them back on the shelf. Then I re-open the one I need to work in.

Honest to Pete, it works. But it doesn't have to be a library. You could pop big bubbles or something, but my mind needs the security of being able to go back and open them up again.

L