Okay, do you want to know it? The real secret to eliminating procrastination.
I feel I should be meeting you in some dark alley and asking you to give me an envelope full of money first.
But we’re friends right? So I’m not going to make you do that. (except for the money part.) First let’s define our terms.
Procrastination is really about doing something else when you should be writing.
So here's the secret that a lot of other writing gurus would give you.
Write. Power through it. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Just write.
My method is a little different.
I agree you should write. But you should write something else.
The reason you’re getting bogged down in your current project, whether it be a novel, or a short story is because this particular project is giving you problems. It’s not that you couldn’t write anything. You just can’t write this for the moment.
So find some other writing projects that might be more fun to work on. Once you've proven to yourself that you can still write, it will then be easier to finish the previous material.
Here’s how it works for me.
Suppose I'm working on a novel and things aren't going the way I'd like. Before hitting my head against the wall for the hundredth time (And by the way that cures all manner of headaches,) I would then shift into something else. It might be writing some funny ideas for a greeting card company or outlining another novel or perhaps putting together a treatment for a tv show or…. anything.
When I'm finished, I simply go back to the original project. Simple!
I would like to call this the "Shrott Writing System," but actually the idea belongs to the
great science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.
When asked what he’d do if he ever got a writer’s block, he said--
“I don’t ever get one precisely because I switch from one task to another at will. If I’m tired of one project I just switch to something else which at that moment interests me more. “
He would keep four typewriters in his office. Each one had paper with a writing project he had started. The projects would be in various stages of completion. When he'd get stuck on one, he'd move to another.
So don't worry about writer's block anymore.
Just worry about getting me my money!
Have fun every day!
Steve
I feel I should be meeting you in some dark alley and asking you to give me an envelope full of money first.
But we’re friends right? So I’m not going to make you do that. (except for the money part.) First let’s define our terms.
Procrastination is really about doing something else when you should be writing.
So here's the secret that a lot of other writing gurus would give you.
Write. Power through it. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Just write.
My method is a little different.
I agree you should write. But you should write something else.
The reason you’re getting bogged down in your current project, whether it be a novel, or a short story is because this particular project is giving you problems. It’s not that you couldn’t write anything. You just can’t write this for the moment.
So find some other writing projects that might be more fun to work on. Once you've proven to yourself that you can still write, it will then be easier to finish the previous material.
Here’s how it works for me.
Suppose I'm working on a novel and things aren't going the way I'd like. Before hitting my head against the wall for the hundredth time (And by the way that cures all manner of headaches,) I would then shift into something else. It might be writing some funny ideas for a greeting card company or outlining another novel or perhaps putting together a treatment for a tv show or…. anything.
When I'm finished, I simply go back to the original project. Simple!
I would like to call this the "Shrott Writing System," but actually the idea belongs to the
great science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.
When asked what he’d do if he ever got a writer’s block, he said--
“I don’t ever get one precisely because I switch from one task to another at will. If I’m tired of one project I just switch to something else which at that moment interests me more. “
He would keep four typewriters in his office. Each one had paper with a writing project he had started. The projects would be in various stages of completion. When he'd get stuck on one, he'd move to another.
So don't worry about writer's block anymore.
Just worry about getting me my money!
Have fun every day!
Steve