This week’s #writingwednesday tip comes to you from Andrew Buckley, author of the Hair in All the Wrong Places series.
How to Murder Procrastination: A Writing Tip from Andrew Buckley
Writing in any form, whether it’s for a novel, a piece of creative writing, a screenplay, short story, or anything in between, come with its own set of challenges. Maybe you’re having trouble nailing down the motivation for your main character? Or maybe you’re struggling with dialogue mechanics? But there’s a consistent affliction that affects all writers at one time or another. A horrible creature that lurks at the edges of our minds and crushes our creative will to write. That’s right, I’m talking about procrastination!
At one time or another, we’ve all succumbed to the influence of procrastination. Writing isn’t easy in the first place, but it becomes even harder when you can’t get into a writing groove because the new season of Stranger Things just dropped on Netflix and there’s no way you’re going to miss that. Or maybe your house is suddenly in need of a thorough top to bottom cleaning. The lawn needs mowing. There’s some serious napping to be done! There are always reasons... and after a while you may begin to think you’re lazy. But maybe there’s another reason...
So there you have it. Your very biology is trying to destroy your writing career! Fortunately there are a few things you can do to get over this hurdle and get back to hitting that keyboard:
Introducing Andrew’s 4 Methods to Kill Procrastination
#1 Destroy All Distractions – Turn off your Wi-Fi! Put the phone away in your bag. Don’t have the TV on in the background. And find a nice quiet place to work. It sounds simple, but either removing those distractions or removing yourself from the vicinity of the distractions is a good way to focus.
#2 Goal Setting – Set yourself attainable goals. I’m going to write that twice, because it’s really important. Set attainable goals! Break your writing goals into bite-sized chunks and be realistic about it. Start small. Write one page a day for a week and see how it goes. If you accomplish it, increase it to two pages a day, and so on.
#3 Rewards - Rewarding yourself is strangely effective when writing. As humans we generally respond well to positive reinforcement. Don’t eat that cookie until you’ve finished writing that page. If you write for an hour, then you can watch Netflix for an hour. No chocolate (or wine)! Until you finish that chapter . . .
#4 Exercise – I know, I know. ‘Exercise’ and ‘Writer’ are generally not associated. But bear with me. Exercise creates an unusual amount of focus, and once again, science is responsible. Exercise stimulates something called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which encourages the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. Research shows that the ability to imagine the future and, most importantly, the ability to think creatively is dependent on this region of the brain. Exercise stimulates BDNF, which in turn boosts your creativity. Not sure where to start with exercise? Why not go for a run? #writersruntoo
Hopefully you’ve found this insightful and helpful as you embark on your writing endeavors. Just remember, the most important part of writing is the ability to sit down and actually write, so mastering how to kick procrastination to the curb is important! For more interesting and fun writing tips check out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGZOFNr3CypZAcNdCL26Mfw
Andrew Buckly defied the biology of procrastination to write three books for the Hair In All the Wrong Places series!
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