Discipline

I have to admit, I don't do discipline well. I think it has something to do with the time I spent in the military. I'm not very organized either, though I've gotten better in the last several years.

What's discipline got to do with writing you ask?

Just this…if you want to write a novel within a reasonable amount of time, you have to be disciplined. This means writing on a regular basis. It's one of the things that serious writers have in common. They write on a schedule. They make their writing a priority.

I had problems with this. Call it procrastination or call it lazy but it isn't a good thing. So, I followed the advice of many writers and decided to make writing a priority for me. To make it something important in my daily routine.

About this time, James Scott Bell tweeted about completing his Nifty 350. Meaning, his goal for the day is 350 words, written in the mornings. I took this idea and ran with it, so to speak.

I decided on a "First 500" and put my self on an internet diet. Harsh yes, but it really worked. I took my laptop into the bedroom so first thing in the morning, I could fire it up and get to writing.

The first couple days, it took about 4 hours to get those First 500 words. Now, I'm one of those writers who tend to write, edit, rewrite and then revise each sentence as I go along so that's not a long time for me.

After the first week, I found myself looking forward to writing first thing in the morning and the word counts rising and not taking as long to get on the page. It only took a couple days of  doing this before  I started to get between 1,000 to 1,500 words in the same 4 hours.

I also learned that the internet won't wither up and blow away if I'm not there. I discovered that many of the things I did online, once thought of as necessities, really weren't.

And I've discovered I like writing more than reading many other writing blogs. Sure, I still have a favorite few I read on a regular basis but now I've gotten my priorities in the right order and when I spend some time online, I don't feel guilty because I haven't written.

I don't have any books to recommend to you however, if you have a problem with procrastination, check out Procrastinating Writer.

Then, take a look at your schedule and make writing a priority.

Here's to Procrastination

Sometimes we just need to step back from our work and take a few minutes to play and relax.  And I don't know about you, but I can only play so many games of solitarie or mahjong so here's a few of my favorite places to "take five."

Lemmings - I don't know if you remember this game but we had it on our first computer years and years ago.  I LOVED it and would play for hours.  Start with the "fun" level and work your way up.

Wordle - I don't remember if I've shared this with you or not but it's really cool. Just add your text to the box and it'll make word clouds with your words.  You can change the color and shape for some really interesting looks.  You can then save the "wordles" for whatever you like.  I have one that I want to do as a t-shirt one of these days.

Superstickies - Love sticky notes?  Then you'll love this. 

Montana for Real - This is the blog of writer Kari Lynn Dell.  This really isn't a writing blog but she has some great posts on actual ranch life from someone actually living it. 

Virtual Turnpike - Similar to Google Earth, this gives you the street view of different addresses.  I even saw my house from the end of the driveway, which is kinda creepy now that I think about it.  But, it might be a nice help to see what locations look like for that scene you are procrastination about.

Another way is to post here and share your favorite means of procrastination.  So, help a fellow procrastinator out.:-)