Nailing down the writing time

It’s so easy to procrastinate when you’re a writer, to say ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’, or ‘I just don’t feel creative right now’. And the days slip by, and you start to feel that maybe you’re not going to produce anything ever.

Someone who gives me the biggest kick to get moving and write is Marg McAlister with her tip sheets on writing. This week, she sent a great tip sheet about setting writing goals and times. It’s so simple, but sometimes you need someone to point out basic things. Now I have set myself goals - all written down - for each week starting from now, including how much time a day I will spend writing, and what I hope to achieve in the week.

And it’s amazing how much you can get done just by getting organised. This week, I set myself the goal of writing two scenes for my new kids book about the life of a guide dog, finishing a short story for a competition, and researching possible magazine markets. And already, I’ve done one scene for the new book - and I am happy with it! - and put a lot of work into the short story.

My goal now is to keep these goals! I’ve got so many projects to do, and a business to run at the same time!

If you’re feeling stuck and getting nowhere, do what I did. Set yourself goals. Write them down and prioritise them. Then tick them off when you’ve completed them. You’ll feel so much better.

The other challenge I set myself was to find a way of writing about a mundaine subject in an exciting way. That’s such a good writing exercise in itself and a good way to hone your writing skills. Nothing is boring when you’re playing with words and images.   

Posted in Motivation, Writing. Permalink for this post: permalink. If you are a Digg user, please  Digg this post. If you use use Del.icio.us, then add us in:  Del.icio.us

What do you think?

Leave a comment! Or send a trackback from your own blog.

RSS