And Then -- Two Dangerous Words

By

Maybe the title brought to mind that older movie, Mickey Blue Eyes, when the waitress said emphatically  “No! And then!”  Or perhaps you thought this would be a blog post on how to eradicate those two words, or the feeling of them, from your manuscript?  In fact, this post is on neither, but what it is focused on is the danger those two words are representative of--procrastination!

Isn’t it true that as writers, authors, our days are full.  Not only do we have the daily concerns of life, and responsibilities that come therewith, but we have our aspirations to write, to edit, to reach another goal of some kind.

If only the necessities of life would move aside so that we could fully focus on our heart’s desire--writing. 

Maybe you’re like me and say the above-noted dangerous words, more than you wish to admit.  I’m sure you know how it goes, “I just have to tweet this, and then I’ll do my edits”, “I’ll check my email, and then I’ll write”, “I need to reply to people on my social networks, and then I’ll edit”, and the list goes on.  It gets into a really desperate situation when we start incorporating domestic chores into the mix, “I’ll do the dishes, and then I’ll write”.  (Let’s face it, when we’re in full-on writing mode the world could collapse around us.)

So, why don’t we write and edit when we know we should be (and want to)?  Speaking for myself, sometimes I allow my mind to become too cluttered with other activities, promotional activities for example.  My mind switches from creative mode to business.  It can be hard to turn that off.

My advice for both myself and others, pulling from Nike, “JUST DO IT”, or even better, “WRITE THE FUTURE”. 

Yep, that’s what I intend to do.  That’s why I wrote this post actually.  I’ve been dying to write something.  Now, tomorrow, will it be the novel I started writing, or edits on an upcoming late year release?  I make this promise to all of you to follow my own encouragement here.  I have Wednesday off the day job and I’m going to kick it! :D

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 2, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    Very insightful, Carolyn - it is so very true about allowing one's mind becoming cluttered with other things...and for me, sometimes this is an avoidance mechanism more than anything! Writing is not easy--it requires tremendous effort and concentration--so sometimes I put everything else that is less taxing in front of what I really SHOULD be doing. I have come up with a writing schedule and am now making myself adhere to a specific number of words per day. If I happen to go beyond the minimum one day, I can give myself a bit of a break the next day and can do other, more mundane things. It is comforting to know that other authors experience the "And then" syndrome!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

When Family Doesn't Support Your Writing

By
If you can empathize with the title of this post, then you're not alone.  So many writers, myself included, can honestly say they have family members who don't support their writing.  Some may go so far as to tell you they don't even want to hear about what you're working on, what you've done, what your goals are.  That hurts. But think about it this way, in some ways is writing any different that an other life decisions your family may not agree with?  I'm sure, if you're like me, you get very defensive when it comes to your writing.  In fact, I'm not going to deny that it places an iron wedge in the relationships.  After all, if your focus in life is your writing, and they ask so what have you been up to ...what are you supposed to do lie, remain quiet, answer another way even though you're so excited about your current WIP you'd tell a stranger?  Ticking clocks are heard in the background while you decide.
Read more

A Big Decision...

By
Image
For those of you who know me, and follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that I’ve been debating whether to pursue publishing traditionally, or take the plunge and self-publish.  With all the “buzz” on the internet, and after great consideration, I have decided to go ahead and self-publish. I had asked myself, does this mean I’m giving up ?  And, the answer is irrevocably no.  Self-publishing used to carry a type of stigma that somehow labelled the work as adhering to a lower standard, but things have changed.  Authors are taking pride in their work like never before, and just because of the increasing ease to self-publishing, they’re not allowing this to affect the quality. In making my decision, I also considered the fact that just because a book is published traditionally it doesn’t mean that it will meet with success.  Many self-published books have received awards, honourable mentions, and have met with even more-than-modest sales.  In fact, there’s ...
Read more

Write What You Love

By
We've all heard the advice, write what you know.  There's been a lot of debate over this piece of advice.  Some see it as valid direction while others argue that there wouldn't be any books if we just wrote what we know.  For example, how many mystery novels are written by real-life detectives?  And, I guess that advice is null when it comes to fantasy genres, and historical fictional works.  No fairy from Neverland wrote a book, and no one from over a hundred years ago can write a book currently.   But, this doesn't mean that we can get sloppy, in fact more work is involved, and this is why writing what we love supersedes all, in my opinion.  How else would we get motivated, and stay motivated to see a novel through to the end? In fact isn't it love for what we’re writing what pushes us through to the conclusion even when we may find the interest in our book weaning, or through the rough middles?  Isn't it the love for what we're writing that f...
Read more