Procrastination Solutions

Right now for me I have not hit a block yet so I have no reason to procrastinate. when I start running out of ideas, that is when I'll start procrastinating. I'm not sure exactly how I'll motivate myself at that point. I write when I get home from work, usually starting after supper. If I have trouble organizing my thoughts at that time, I'll maybe watch a movie and then go write when it's over. I've only had to do that once so far though.

The issue for me is mostly finding what to write, rather than putting it off (though, admittedly, I put it off yesterday -- I got home after 7 feeling so exhausted that I couldn't bring myself to open up Heartbreakers.doc).

I just set things up for myself to be as condusive to writing as possible. I go to a coffee shop or Panera, so I won't be distracted by my XBox or the stack of DVDs I haven't watched yet, and find a place where I can plug in so my computer won't lose power. I put on my headphones so I won't be distracted by the people around me. I bring up Pandora (I have never found a website so good for writing as Pandora) and start a new channel with a song or artist that seems to work for the writing I intend to do that day (Sunday was Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around', Monday was She Wants Revenge, Tuesday was Michael Penn's 'No Myth' -- and I was up to 8800 words by 4:30 Tuesday afternoon when I had to close up). I'll have a drink and something to snack on close to hand (Panera chicken noodle soup seems to bring out good writing in me). And while I'll have different websites open (Dragon Cave to check on my little buddies, Yahoo Instant Messenger, that sort of thing) I find that I get more irritated with the distraction they represent than distracted in any sort of happy sense. If I -don't- have them running, I get irritated with my writing instead, and find myself seeking out other things to do to distract myself.

In short, I make the conditions for writing as positive as possible, and hope for the best.

Another trick that's worked for me the last few days is to stop writing where I know exactly what will happen next. That way I've got a good springboard to get some momentum, and soon enough the words will be flying across the page.

I write while I'm class, so I in reality, my NaNo project is my procrastination. XD

For me, good music is a must, preferably loud enough to drown anything else out. When I'm stuck I usually do a word war, and by the end of it, even if I don't get a good word count, I've gotten enough of a flow going that I can keep going.

If I'm stuck, I start describing something mundane, like my character eating breakfast. That way, while I try to think of how to progress my story, I at least am increasing my word count. I already know my novel will be terrible, but I want to make the deadline. After November 30th, I can worry about making it good. :)

Thanks neksinnad, I like that idea of stopping when you are excited about what is going to happen next - i hadn't done it on purpose but I can remember those were the days I dove in without wondering how cold the water was - excellent suggestion. gina

I've been using "Write or Die" and find it very handy for just plowing on ahead, regardless of whatever my inner editor may be telling me about the quality of my story at the moment. Plus, when you reach your session goal, you can move on to something else for awhile without feeling guilty about neglecting your novel, and you can easily make good use of 10 minute chunks of time to race yourself against your previous 10 minute word count, and so forth.

hollive