Avoiding the Words

By Susan

We all know that anyone who writes is a writer, yet we also know that there are many ways writers avoid sitting down and putting words on the page. Here's a quick list of my favorite distractions and some easy solutions on this lovely Friday morning:

1)   Work. "I need to work, so I can't focus on writing now." This is true—we do need to work. How about today when you take your lunch break you opt to eat outside? Bring a notebook with you and write for twenty minutes. If you can't muster up a few paragraphs, make some observations about your surroundings and write them down. They can be great prompts for later.

2)   Facebook. "I'm just going to see the new baby pictures for my next door neighbor's daughter's third grader teacher's new grandbaby that was born in Alaska that I will never meet in real life. It will only take one minute." We all know this is not true. You will spend two hours on Facebook engaging in arguments and clicking "like" and chatting with a long lost friend. Please. Log off. 

3)   Important Things. "I've got to go the post office and the grocery and drop the dog at the vet. Did you not see my to-do list?" Yes. We all have Important Things. They all get done. But that doesn't mean you can't bring your computer with you. I've been known to edit or revise while sitting in the school parking lot, waiting to pick up a daughter at the end of her school day. Make your writing one of the Important Things, and it will get done.

I drew a bird. 

4)   Draw. "Oh, look. I could draw that bird." Or maybe that's just me?

5)   Read. "I'll just finish this one chapter." That's a lie, but that's okay. I'll always say if I'm not writing, reading is the next best thing.

6)   Clean. "It's Friday/springtime/dusty in here. I can't just sit and write with all of this clutter!" Write one sentence before you pick up that mop. Maybe the sentence will turn into a paragraph, maybe not. But one good sentence is better than none. Make deals with yourself, and stick to them.

7)   Exercise. "But it's beautiful outside! I've been cooped up all winter! I need to run!" I can't fight you on that one…in fact, I'm a huge proponent of exercise as a great breeding ground for new ideas. Just make sure that you translate that thinking time to the page when you return. Focus your monkey mind and allow your creativity to flow while you sweat. Then write it all down.

8)   Tend to Everyone Else. "I simply can't take the time for myself right now. Everyone else needs me." Well. Yes. At times, this is true. But have you ever heard a male writer say this? Not often. We women tend to quickly put the needs of others—children, aging parents, neighbors, even people we don't like—ahead of our own needs. And this also applies to viewing our writing time as a bonus rather than as a necessity. Write as though you have to. After all, don't you?

9)   Wallow. "It's all crap anyway. There's no point." Oh wait, maybe this is just me. The only solution for wallowing is to write anyway. 

10) Research. "I can't write this scene until I understand how a Byzantine soldier would navigate the streets of Constantinople in the year 1242." No. Just no. Research is a fabulous tool, and a necessary one. But don't allow it to usurp your writing time. Set a timer. Research for thirty minutes. And then write.

The most important advice? Stick to it. Hold yourself accountable. And so for me, on this lovely warm spring day, I'm off to write on my patio, thankful for the words, opportunity, and time to do what I love. I suggest you do the same. Happy Friday!

The Sound of Silence

By Kim

My little one drawing a tree at the cemetery - photo by Deborah Downes

Another summer is over and my kids are back at their respective schools.

The oldest, now in junior high, has discovered that workloads and responsibilities have increased exponentially. Between homework and the rehearsal schedule for her ballet company, she doubts she’ll have much of a social life apart from her dance friends, none of whom attend her school.

The little one, now in third grade, is having a harder time than expected adjusting to being the only Bullock at her school. The older kids no longer know who she is, she must ride the bus alone, and she no longer has the security of having her sister in the building in case of emergencies. She experienced both a tornado warning and a lock-down at school last year and dreads the thought of it happening again.

At home, I am going through my own transitions. I left my 30s behind a few days ago. I’m toying with a new novel idea, another historical, trying to decide if the story is meant to be adult or YA. (I ran the idea by my twelve-year-old and she votes YA.) While I’m still submitting THE OAK LOVERS to agents and remain confident it will find a home, I’ve spent too long obsessively checking my e-mail and not enough time writing. Blog posts and book reviews aren’t enough anymore.

During the summer I had an excuse to procrastinate. I lived in my car, shuttling my girls to dance and camp—activities that never occurred for both of them simultaneously. I took a family vacation. The noise level in our house was typically conducive to nothing but the creation of headaches if I tried to sit at my computer and work. I didn’t try often.

Summer is over now. Unless I choose otherwise, for seven hours a day I hear nothing but the sound of silence. My muse’s favorite soundtrack. Time to get back to work.

What is your favorite music to work by?   

What Do You Need?

By Susan

I've been avoiding my manuscript for about five days now.

We move this way, my WIP and me, sometimes frantically together, stealing every extra moment to scribble (or type) in the quiet darkness. Then, for no real reason, five or six thousand words later, it's over. I'm done with it for a little while and it's lost in my life until, with a flash of embarrassment and shame, I realize I have neglected it for far too long.

I had a moment last night where I thought about double-clicking the file, and then I let the moment pass. What was wrong with me?

"I need a retreat," I said to myself. "That's what I need. Then I'll write every day."

Today, I worked from home and spent the majority of the day on the phone, pouring over budgets and planning work-related travel plans for the rest of the year. Through all of this, I could see 'my book' sitting on the computer desktop, waiting patiently.

"Not a retreat. A class, really," I thought again. "My MFA! Maybe I'll finally go DO that."

Tonight, I looked over curriculum's for MFA's online and realized that NO, I do not want to do that.

"Time alone!" my inner self shouted. "You never have time alone!"

And then I remembered that my children had been at sleep-away camp all week and now I'm totally out of excuses.

So what is it that I need?

I need to chill out.

I need to let it breathe. Let it relax. When I peek at my words a few days from now, I'll have a good perspective on what it needs, and I'll take care of that. Knowing me the way that I do, I will probably spend a few days correcting broken sentences, working on the outline, verifying some facts, and then I'll start again with new words, moving the whole thing forward again.

Instead of beating myself up for not writing 2,000 words a day (Stephen King says to do that! I should do that!), perhaps I just need to follow my own rhythm. And if that means writing like crazy for a week or so and then letting it marinate on its own with no help from me, then so-be-it. Maybe focusing on what it needs is better than focusing on what I think I need.

What about you? Do you write straight through from start to finish? Do you jump around, choosing certain scenes over others? Or are you bumbling along like me, in short bursts of creativity?

Let us know!

Excuses, excuses...

By Kim

Growing up I was not a procrastinator. I was that kid who did her homework on Friday night, if I had not already completed it in study hall. In junior high I had a teacher who realized the English curriculum was a waste of my time and allowed me to pick my own books, make up my own writing assignments, and skip diagramming sentences. I would have an A so long as I challenged myself. I consistently earned an A+.

No, I was not every parents’ dream child (just ask Mom and Dad). I was simply self-motivated.

Fast forward twenty years. I had one thing I have to get done today – to write this blog – and yet here it is, two hours before I have to pick up my kids, and it is only now that I have parked my butt in my chair to start. I wish I could say this was an unusual occurrence. It’s not. I wish I could say that I had an excuse. I don’t.

As a stay-at-home mom and writer, I have my dream job. Yet each day motivation takes effort. Here are my top excuses not to write:

1) Answering e-mail related to my book. Yes, there is a lot of it. Last week I arranged to share information about Carl Ahrens with the National Gallery of Canada. This week I am helping an appraiser price some etchings and putting him in touch with potential buyers.

2) Updating my website or my catalog of known work by Ahrens.

3) Two small children who need me.

4) Laundry, errands, chauffeuring kids around for lessons, play dates, etc.

5) I ignore this last one as long as possible, but the reality is that on any given day it looks like a hurricane hit my house. When the muses aren’t speaking to me, I clean.

After talking to my fellow What Women Write contributors, I discovered there’s a lot of procrastinating going on. Here is what is most likely to keep them from writing.

Joan:

1) reading industry blogs

2) reading a novel I just can’t put down

3) watching a movie (for research)

4) updating my Netflix queue

5) responding to e-mail

Pamela:

1) Work: a worthwhile venture that eats up a lot of time. It is writing, though, so I consider it a warm-up exercise--a warm up that lasts all day some times.

2) The Internet

3) E-mail

4) That niggling internal voice that says I’m not that good and am, therefore, wasting my time

Elizabeth:

1) The grocery store – the family has to eat!

2) The dog needs walking. Poor puppy. It’s not his fault I haven’t written anything.

3) I’m hungry--10:30 is not too early for lunch

4) Yoga

5) Miss Manners message boards (for character research). Don’t believe me? Check out AnythingICanJustifyAsResearch.com.

6) The laundry

7) E-mail

8) Did I mention I’m hungry?

Susan:

1) Time management – work/family/kids/pets/writing

2) The old “I got nothin’” syndrome

3) Fear of failure (I’m not good enough to even try some days)

4) Lazy distractions – e-mail, Internet, blogging

5) Not making writing enough of a priority

Julie:

1) Computer problems. Prime example, this week – I’ve spent more time fixing things than writing because my computer is dying a slow death.

2) Spending time worrying about how I am not Supermom and how I don’t do all the millions of things other moms I know do when I could go ahead and use that time to write, which is why I choose not to be Supermom to begin with. It’s a vicious cycle.

3) Trying to read all the blog posts I’ve faithfully RSS'd to my inbox because I’m sure the world will end if I don’t.

4) Travel planning. I love to travel and could, and sometimes do, spend every spare moment exploring destinations and planning future journeys, whether I’m actually going or not.

5) My own writing. Worrying about it – whether it’s good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough – when I could simply be doing it and ignoring all the other girls. Wait, am I talking about writing or high school? J

So, how about you? What are your top reasons (excuses) for not getting any writing done today?