I've been on this darn computer too long, and I need to write! I'm only a little far away from finishing my five-part beast of a Mega Man fanfiction, and I'm inspired to write an original story, but I'm just too busy piddling away on the computer and slacking! Somebody say something that motivates me, and quick! >.< Or you can just share stories of how you get your butt in gear when you're slacking. Whichever.
turn of the internet. close your windows. lock the door. tell all your friends and family that you are dead. and don't get out until your done. it's working for me, i've written 1000 good words everyday for the last week. good luck
I like what Louis suggested...lol When I'm busy writing I'm really out of it, so if my family talks to me they could say anything and I barely hear them. I guess that could be considered 'dead' or maybe a zombie. Anyway, back to your post. I say that if you are going to slack, use that 'slacking time' wisely. How about you get on Youtube and listen to some good music? Music can be an amazing story inspiration! When you're listening, jot down ideas in a notebook. After that, do a Google search on random pictures, and get inspired by them. I love looking at fantasy pictures. Do anything that would be good inspiration or research. Once you're completely bored of that, get writing!
sounds like good advice, but I've never used it. My cup of iced coffee fuels my writing. When it's almost done I'm like, well that's no good, time to stop. Problem is, sometimes when I am slacking on youtube before i plan to write, I finish the damn drink and I don't want to write. SO, what I did was, have a bigger cup. lol. so that it lasts through the slacking and into the writing period. Probably not good advice lol. DRINK MORE OF WHATEVER YOUR DRINKING. O well, good luck.
Get your butt off this forum and write! And stop checking your emails, especially facebook And think of it this way, every time you actually get down to writing, it feels so good that you can't imagine ever stopping. All you gotta do is, yes, inch that cursor to your folder where your MS is saved.... yes, double click, simple. Just two little clicks. Click click. See that magical window that opens now with a huge wall of words? Yeh, read some of it. How does it feel? Good, right? Your fingers are itching to begin, they hover over your keyboard... And let your imagination run wild.
Nope. Even if we could shut off your Internet, sever your cable connection, and get you locked out of local movie theaters and malls, we couldn't stop you from procrastinating. That's why the only real solution is self-discipline.
Unplug the internet connection and start writing. No internet and no tv is the best way to stop procrastinating.
Everyday, a lot of people do work they do want to do, but they do it anyway. The thing that separates these people are the ones who do their job like they love it, and people who do their job like they don't want to be there. Its discipline, and you need to write and learn the craft to prepare yourself for any challenge that comes ahead.
I think one thing I've heard a lot of people do... something I haven't personally tried... is you schedule a time a few times a week where you clear everything else off of your schedule and decide that you aren't going to leave until you've written a certain amount of words. And even if you can't think of something to write for your specific story, write about something else during that time.
I had major computer problems this week, and the Geeks had to take my lap-top to fix it. You'll never know just how good that feels. I could sleep a tad later. I could work-out even longer. Why take my bike off of the slab early? Nothing to work on, anyway. Instead of working on the story until way into the morning hours, I'd fall asleep on the couch, guilt free. I think when my book is done I'm going to trash the lap-top. I've decided thst being off the grid is a good thing.
I can certainly relate to the procrastination, and the getting distracted. Due to many issues, which I won't bore you with here, I have trouble concentrating on writing. I've known since I was little it's what I want to do. When I was 18, I stopped writing. Mainly due to being constantly distracted by other things, and issues with self esteem. At 26, I'm just now dedicating myself back to it seriously, and the main thing that sticks in my side like a thorn is the thought, "How far could I have progressed in eight years?" So the main motivation for me is keeping that thought in mind. Whenever I start to get distracted on my computer, or get tempted to turn on the tube, I remind myself, "If you work on this right now, you'll be advancing your own creation. What could you create and accomplish in the hours while you're staring at the screen? So get busy!" lol
I tend to put off writing when I know I have a particularly difficult scene in front of me, or one in which I haven't formulated a clear vision for. In fact, I'm putting off one such difficult scene right now!
Eh, it's not really a matter of having a hard chapter. Actually, the way to solve those is to think about them directly and solve the problem in your head. Then writing it will be easy. Actually, the truth of the matter is I'm getting over being burned out. I spent the last three years writing a 200K+ fanfiction (hey, it gets readers) and I've been chugging along with it for a while. I just need a break. It's been a real undertaking, and it's really prepared me and let me know exactly what kind of effort it takes to actually finish a book. I feel pretty accomplished, even though there's little chance I can get Capcom to publish my work as an official fanfiction. Right now I'm just getting back on the horse, so to speak. As soon as I move to my next apartment, which will have no cable and thus no Storage Wars (man, that thing is addictive) and I'll be able to do more. Actually, I got some work done today. I'm doing a special "bonus features" post-story feature, so I feel able to slack because the main story is done.
Two things I suggest: One, is to set up a disciplined schedule and keep to it. Add some incentives if you keep to it for a certain amount of time and such. Maybe some punishments if you don't. The other thing is, if you really can't stop slacking, is take a week or two off and try to inspire yourself again. Whenever I even think about slacking, I listen to a song that I usually listen to when I write, and that gets me thinking about my novel again and gets me pumped up in a literature kind of way.
Schedule? I'm not sure that being creative is something you can assign to a timetable. For example, you awaken and pull up the day's events on your smart phone. "6:00AM--Bowel movement. 6:15AM--Feed dogs. 6:30AM--Make toast. 7:00 to 10:00AM--Be creative." I don't work that way, nor can I. I struggled with a scene a few weeks ago, finally regurgitated a quick and dirty bland framework and shut the thing down. I was both relieved to get the task done, and somewhat guilty that I "phoned it in." There were a number of factors. One, I hated the scene and it felt like shoveling gravel in the hot sun. Two, I wanted to do other things--a problem I still have. Three, I feel guilty when I'm 'not working' on this or anything. I began to hate the damn book. I even felt relieved when the computer crashed. When the Geek delivered it two days early I was wiping down my bike from a ride, and I felt deflated. No more excuses. My wife has been gone for a few days to take care of her mom. I played hookie. Not that I did anything bizarre, but it was a great feeling to do what I wanted. And that entailed getting up even earlier and doing the things I wanted. And lo and behold, "writing" was not one them. My Aunt Clara used to say, "When two people tell you you're drunk, go home." And that's what's happening now. Every time I have a open schedule, I include 'not writing' to the agenda. If you feel the same, take my Aunt's advice. It's time for a break. I figure I'll pick it up again when the weather is too cold to ride--maybe.
You can't schedule creativity, but writing is also a task that requires progress. If you sert aside a scheduled writing period, you will make progress. Creativity comes when it comes. When inspiration strikes, jot down your thoughts. Make sure you work with those nootes in your next scheduled writing session, if you can't do it immediately. After all, no one said you had to stay away from your writing outside the schedule. Of course, if you know the time of day you are most creative, that may be a good time to schedule for writing, assuming you have that option. Obviously, if it conflicts with some other activity you cannot reschedule, like school or work, you will have to schedule a less ideal time.
Isn't that what Anthony Trollope did? And it worked pretty darn well until he told people, and then they all hated him becase it meant he wasn't an "artist" if he had such discipline. As far as mechanics go, there's nothing to prevent you planning for the rest of the day. You can be creative all the time and just write it during a certain period. For that matter, creativity is a characteristic of mankind and not something that can be turned on and off - it's not creativity that's being put into a schedule, it's the actual time for writing. It's good to have a specific time when you can write, because you haven't got anything else in planned for that time, and when you must write, because that is the time when you write, and no other. I don't think scheduling and discipline is a method to be shunned. If it works and helps, use it.
A 'white crow' gambit is not proof of a concept. There are many people who write on the fly. I'm one of those. Forcing people to do anything is a lousy proposition. For example, it's not a good idea to buy a car built on a Monday or a Friday.
There's a big difference between 'forcing' and a work ethic. My day is filled with successfully running chores and maintaining expensive equipment. I'm active for most of the day. But I am forcing myself to write.
You cannot force yourself, because you always have the option of saying "No." There is no leverage you can impose on yourself that you cannot also remove at a whim. This is therefore irrelevant to the thread: Please stay on topic.
I think the schedule thing is completely personal. Ernest Hemingway used to dedicate his mornings to writing and no one, for any circumstance, was to bother him. Now he was also a suicidal drunk but...... I've been procrastinating writing too. I think it has something to do with the weather. It's difficult to stay plugged in when patios and beer, reading in the sun, and enjoying the sunshine call out to you.
