procrastination

Why it is good to be different but also very scary!

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I compare myself to more successful people all the time. I wish I could write as well as Niel Gaiman, write as humorously as Terry Pratchett, or as descriptively as Steven King. In some ways this is normal. We want to see if we match up and how good we are compared to other people.

There are so many problems in doing this. Comparing yourself to others is bad for you.

It was one of the reasons why it took me so long to take a chance on writing this blog. I would use the fact that I am not as whimsical, or funny, or grammatically correct and poised as other people. So I should wait until I get good enough.

The problem is there will always be someone you admire and think of as more qualified than you. It is a procrastination excuse based in fear.

You don’t know the doubts and struggles that many others have had on their way to becoming a successful writer. Maybe you haven’t had the practice or the time to put into your writing yet. Maybe your parents hated reading and never encouraged you. Maybe life happened. It happens to most of us. So by comparing yourself to the greats, you are being unfair to you. Who knows where you will go if you continue to work on your writing.

Another reason not to compare yourself to others is that they became successful because they are unique. If you try to imitate them, you are not being faithful to your own unique voice.

Aretha Franklin is amazing. She sings a cover of Bridge Over Trouble Waters that blows my mind every time I hear it. No one sings like her.

And that is the point. No one sings like her, or Bob Dylan, or Adele. That is why they are great.

So you do you. Because perhaps if you can’t find anyone who writes (or sings) like you, then you are on your way. Or you are William Hung. Either way, you are your own unique self.

Have a great day!

Paula

PS feel free to share any songs that help you through a Monday Morning!

 

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Quick Link: When to stop learning and start writing

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Just a quick post from Jodi Gibson, but sometimes great things come in little packages. Jodi’s post is for all us perfectionist and procrastinator who use the excuse that we don’t know enough, or are not ready, and look at the people who are better than us and think we aren’t like them. Totally me. Time to use stop using learning as an excuse and just start writing.

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When to stop learning and start writing

by Jodi Gibson

As a writer with no formal qualifications, i.e. no tertiary degree in writing, I have looked for other ways to learn about the craft of writing.

I’ve done many short courses, read a trove of online articles and websites, and discussed everything from dialogue to point of view with fellow writers. But how much is too much? When is it time to stop learning and start trusting your own knowledge and ability?

I’m not sure if there is a definitive answer that is the same for every writer. I think the answer for each individual lies somewhere between when the penny drops and when you know it’s time. Or maybe, when you’re told it’s time.

At the wrap up of Fiona McIntosh’s masterclass, she said something to us that struck a chord with me. ‘You don’t need anymore knowledge, you just need to go and write.’

She wasn’t saying that her knowledge and wisdom is everything, she was simply saying it was time to go and put everything you know into practice.

With so much information out there on the craft of writing – books, articles, websites, courses – it can be confusing. And the worst part is, there’s a lot of conflicting information. One person will tell you one thing, and then another will tell you the opposite.

Read the full post on Jodi Gibson

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are)

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

When I first read this post by Ali from Aliventures I admit I was a bit shocked. Two years seems like a long time! But then I realized that not only was this a reality check, but when you look at the plan, it makes sense. Especially considering she is talking about spending only 30 minutes a day to work on your project. So if you have ever made any excuses on why you haven’t written more (Guilty!) this article is for you! Ali even offers a free download of the material she uses in the post.

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Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are)

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i will schedule my writing... I will schedule my writing... I will schedule my writing.
I will schedule my writing… I will schedule my writing… I will schedule my writing.

April 25, 2016

Have you ever told yourself something like this:

  • “Once I have a bit more time, I’ll start work on that novel.”
  • “Once life is less manic, I’ll get back to my novel.”
  • “If only I could take a year off work, I could finally write my novel.”

A novel is a major undertaking. But it’s also one that can fit around a busy life.

You don’t need all day, every day, to write.

If you can find just 30 minutes each day, you could finish a novel (to the point where you’re sending it out to agents, or self-publishing) in just two years.

If, like me, you know some super-prolific novelists (like Joanna Penn and Johnny B. Truant), one novel in two years might sound a bit slow.

But … one novel in two years is definitely better than no novels at all.

What You Need to Make This Work

Obviously, I have to make some assumptions about your time available and writing speed. (We’ll get to “making time” and “speeding up” in a moment.)

For the plan to work, you’ll need to:

  • Have 30 minutes per day available (or the equivalent across a week, e.g. two 1 h 45 m sessions).
  • Write an average of 500 words per day during the first draft
  • Edit at an average pace of 1,000 words per day

The plan allows for:

  • Two full drafts (writing 500 words per day)
  • One full edit (editing 1,000 words per day)
  • A final tidying-up edit (editing 1,500 words per day)
  • Plus time for your novel to be with your editor and/or beta readers.

This should result in a novel of 75,000 – 80,000 words, completely finished (from initial idea to ready-to-go book) within two years.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Stop Making Excuses And Write A Book

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Today’s post is from the Bookbaby Blog, dated January 19, 2016 by Jim Dempsey.  In the post Jim, analyzes the excuses we make for not starting to write your book, or edit it, or in my case finish it. It is a good read, so check it out and let me know what you think in the comments. What is holding you back from doing what you want to to do?

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Stop Making Excuses And Write A Book

The start of a new year is a good time to finally commit the time and energy to write a book. But first, ask yourself one important question to find out if you really have what it takes to be a writer.

When people ask what I do and I say I’m a book editor, they tell me they’d love to write a book some day, once the kids are grown up, when they have more time, or if only they were good enough. Some people have already given up trying. They say, “I suppose if I really wanted to write, I’d have done it by now.”Excuses File Contains Reasons And Scapegoats

But that’s just another excuse. That argument assumes we all fall naturally into what we want to do, when in fact it’s much more natural to find an excuse not to do it.

We all makes excuses. It’s a part of what we do. And the first step to making a commitment to finally writing a book is to recognize the excuses and to stop them getting in the way of your dreams.

Writing is an adventure

Inventing excuses is your mind’s way of protecting you, from keeping you from taking risks or using up too much precious energy. In evolutionary terms, that makes sense, but the excuses your mind invents can also keep you from enjoying some of life’s greatest adventures, of which writing a book is surely one.

Read the full post on Bookbaby Blog

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

1.0 Is the Loneliest Number – (Why your rough draft is lonely)

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This article from Matt Mullenweg, one of the founding developers of WordPress, is more software directed. But the concept is the same for writing. I am not talking about creating an eBook in a day with no editing, but rather to those people who always wished they could write and use “one more thing” as a means of procrastinating actually doing or completing any writing. This hits home for me, and one of the reasons why I took on this blog was to challenge myself away from this type of thinking. Perhaps if we hold hands and take a breath we can both jump forward together?

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1.0 Is the Loneliest Number

Many entrepreneurs idolize Steve Jobs. He’s such a perfectionist, they say. Nothing leaves the doors of 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino without a polish and finish that makes geeks everywhere drool. No compromise!

I like Apple for the opposite reason: they’re not afraid of getting a rudimentary 1.0 out into the world.

“No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.” — cmdrtaco, Slashdot.org, 2001, reviewing the first iPod

Now Or Later Keys Shows Delay Deadlines And Urgency

I remember my first 1G iPhone. Like a meal you have to wait for, or a line outside a club, the fact that I stood in line for hours made the first time I swiped to unlock the phone that much sweeter. It felt like I was on Star Trek and this was my magical tricorder… a tricorder that constantly dropped calls on AT&T’s network, had a headphone adapter that didn’t fit any of the hundreds of dollars of headphones I owned, ran no applications, had no copy and paste, and was as slow as molasses.

Now, the crazy thing about that release is when the original iPhone went public, flaws and all, you know that in a secret room somewhere on Apple’s campus they had a working prototype of the 3GS with a faster processor, better battery life, normal headphone jack… a perfect everything. Steve Jobs was probably already carrying around one in his pocket. How painful it must have been to have everyone criticizing them for all the flaws they had already fixed but couldn’t release yet because they were waiting for component prices to come down or for some bugs to be worked out of the app store.

“$400 for an Mp3 Player! I’d call it the Cube 2.0 as it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time… and it’s not really functional. Uuhh Steve, can I have a PDA now?” — elitemacor, macrumors.com, 2001, responding to the original iPod announcement

Or, I wonder, are they really quite zen about the whole thing? There is a dark time in WordPress development history, a lost year. Version 2.0 was released on December 31st, 2005, and version 2.1 came out on January 22nd, 2007. Now just from the dates, you might imagine that perhaps we had some sort of rift in the open source community, that all the volunteers left or that perhaps WordPress just slowed down. In fact it was just the opposite, 2006 was a breakthrough year for WP in many ways: WP was downloaded 1.5 million times that year, and we were starting to get some high-profile blogs switching over. The growing prominence had attracted scores of new developers to the project and we were committing new functionality and fixes faster than we ever had before.

What killed us was “one more thing.” We could have easily done three major releases that year if we had drawn a line in the sand, said “finished,” and shipped the darn thing. The problem is that the longer it’s been since your last release the more pressure and anticipation there is, so you’re more likely to try to slip in just one more thing or a fix that will make a feature really shine. For some projects, this literally goes on forever.

“hey – heres an idea Apple – rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up? or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?” — Pants, macrumors.com, 2001

I imagine prior to the launch of the iPod, or the iPhone, there were teams saying the same thing: the copy + paste guys are *so close* to being ready and we know Walt Mossberg is going to ding us for this so let’s just not ship to the manufacturers in China for just a few more weeks… The Apple teams were probably embarrassed. But if you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long.

A beautiful thing about Apple is how quickly they obsolete their own products. I imagine this also makes the discipline of getting things out there easier. Like I mentioned before, the longer it’s been since the last release the more pressure there is, but if you know that if your bit of code doesn’t make this version but there’s the +0.1 coming out in 6 weeks, then it’s not that bad. It’s like flights from San Francisco to LA, if you miss one you know there’s another one an hour later so it’s not a big deal. Amazon has done a fantastic job of this with the Kindle as well, with a new model every year.

Read the full post on Matt Mullenweg and maybe show a rough draft to someone?

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com

How to Write a Book or Blog (The 6 Danger Stages You Need To Overcome)

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This post by Ali Luke originally appeared on Write to Done on 7/24/14.

You’ve probably had the experience of starting a novel or blog with great intentions…

…only to find that, a few months later, you’ve barely made any progress.

Maybe you started strong but lost momentum.

Maybe you jumped ahead when you should’ve paused.

Or maybe you got discouraged and gave up.

And you wonder: how to write a book (or blog).

I’ve coached many writers in workshop groups over the past few years, and I’ve noticed that there are six key stages when projects often stall or go wrong.

Here’s what to watch out for.

 

Danger Stage #1: Once You’ve Got a Great Idea

Let’s say you’ve got a new idea you’re excited about. Perhaps it’s a great premise for a novel, a topic for a blog, or a prompt you want to work on for a short story.

Writers tend to make one of two mistakes here:

They jump straight in, full of enthusiasm, without planning. They make a great start, and might get a few chapters into the novel or a few posts into a blog…but then they get stuck.

They wait – and wait – until the “perfect moment” to begin actually writing. They put off starting until they’ve got past family commitments and a busy spell at work…or they read about their chosen field of writing without getting any words down on paper.

 

Click here to read the full post on Write to Done.

 

Break Out Of Your Funk

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This post by John Grover originally appeared as a guest post on The Wredheaded Writer on 4/21/14.

For about twenty-five years, I’ve been having a love affair with writing horror. I’ve been writing for as long as I could hold a pen but I really took it seriously around the age of eighteen and wrote my first serious horror story. After that I wrote a novel. The short story was picked up by a magazine that went out of business soon after and the novel still sits in my closet, unpublished. Did that stop me from writing? Not in the least!

I love writing. It’s part of who I am; it makes me infinitely happy and I’ve written horror since I was able to read the likes of Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson and H.P. Lovecraft. I never have a lack of ideas or the ever-growing list of projects but sometimes I discover that what I truly lack is time and energy.

There never seems to be enough time to write everything I want and there are days when I’m just too tired to care, too tired to put in the time and think to myself where did that young guy go that wrote every single day no matter what?

 

Click here to read the full post on The Wredheaded Writer.

 

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

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This post by Maegan Beaumont originally appeared on Inkspot on 5/26/14.

We all have them: brilliant story ideas.

Sometimes, they come to us fully formed. You see every facet clearly—who your protagonist is, the trouble he or she faces. What they will do to dig themselves out of it… the trouble they meet along the way. Sometimes, it’s just a flash. Something you see or hear triggers a thought. That thought leads to another… and another… until the idea takes shape and you’re left with no choice but to write it out.

And other times that something you see or hear burrows into your brain. It niggles and nags. It refused to be pushed aside—demands to be written.

So, if these ideas take all the time and trouble to bring themselves to our attention, to demand that we listen, why is it that sometimes they have the audacity to be unable to support the story we so desperately want to write? Why is it that they fall apart half way through the novel?

I hate to say it, but… it’s not the idea you should be blaming. It’s you. You’re probably the reason things aren’t working out the way you’d planned them to. The idea didn’t fall apart. You probably broke it.

 

Click here to read the full post on Inkspot.

 

Ten Rules Of Writing

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This post by Alan Baxter originally appeared on his Warrior Scribe site on 4/23/14.

People are always posting rules of writing and it annoys me. I have opinions about many things, and this is definitely one of them. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you’ll know I think writing rules are generally a load of bollocks. They often contain good advice, but “rules” can go and get fucked. So, [engage irony mode] [irony mode engaged] [remove hypocrisy filter] [hypocrisy filter removed] here are my ten rules for writing. They’re the only rules you’ll ever need. See if you can spot the pattern.

1. WRITE

No matter what, if you write, you’re a writer. If you don’t write, you’re not a writer. Wanting to write, intending to write or really loving the idea of writing is not writing.

2. WRITE

Doesn’t matter when, where, how or how often, just do it. Once a day, once a week, once on month, whatever. Sit your arse down somewhere and write. The more often you do it, the better you will be.

3. WRITE

You won’t find time to write. No one has time to write. You make time to write. Can’t make time? Then you don’t want it badly enough.

 

Click here to read the full post on Warrior Scribe.

 

The Author Monthly Planner: A Freebie to Organize Your Writing and Marketing Life

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This post by Toni Tesori originally appeared on Duolit on 3/11/14.

We’re stuck in this cycle where, for at least one week every month, one member of our family is sick (I blame Olivia for bringing home the germies from daycare, BTW).

While being sick doesn’t rate highly on the ol’ fun-o-meter, it did give me an awfully convenient excuse to skip out on my regular cleaning routine.

After catching Olivia practically wading through a pile of books in her bedroom, however, I decided that enough was enough. It was time to get back on my game.

So, I made a to-do list. A looong to-do list. Pretty reasonable, right?

The result? My house is still a mess.

Wanna know why?

To-do lists suck.

Listen, if you’re one of those folks who make perfectly reasonable to-do lists and attack them daily with gusto, I envy you. I wish the doggone things worked that well for me!

Personally, I’ve always found to-do lists a bit mocking. Appealing to the procrastination side of my personality, those lengthy lists just beg me to move some of the items to tomorrow’s list. As long as the tasks get done eventually, right?

Hint: those moved items never get done. Because more and more tasks are added and fewer are crossed off. Before long, I simply despise the sight of that stupid list! I become completely overwhelmed with the number of tasks, and my brain decides that surfing Tumblr is a far more appealing use of my time.

Does any of this sound familiar? If you’ve ever used such a list to keep track of your author-ly life to-do’s, I bet you’ve experienced the something similar.

 

It’s Not the List’s Fault

I’m being awfully hard on the humble to-do list, when it’s not the fault of the list itself. The fault instead lies in the to-do list process. Since the list is, by design, a running list of tasks to work on right now, it offers no perspective; it doesn’t tell me why I’m checking off the items. There’s no birds-eye view of where I’ve been, where I’m going or any kind of final destination.

This is especially important for authors: most of us don’t work on this authoring gig full-time, and jumping in and out of an ever-mounting task list is difficult/scary without an overall plan. We need a status update reminding us why we’re doing what we’re doing, where we’re trying to go and what we need to work on right now to achieve those future goals.

Basically: instead of tasks, we need focus.

 

Focus in a PDF: The Author Monthly Planner

 

Click here to read the full post, which includes a link to a free, downloadable author’s monthly planner in PDF format, on Duolit.

 

3 Reasons Most Writers GIVE UP & 3 Reasons Why YOU Shouldn't

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This post by Angela Scott originally appeared on her site on 12/20/11.

Between getting our words down on paper and then trying to get someone (agents, publishers, READERS, anyone) to care about those words, we may come to a cross point in which we say, “Is this even worth it? Why in the world am I doing this to myself? I think I’ll take some medicine to numb the voices and just go back to bed. Forget it. I’m done.” *sticks out tongue and blows a raspberry at the world*

I’ve been there myself, many a time. But each day, I put myself back in front of the laptop and write. Even on days when I don’t want to.(I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna). Why? Why do I put myself though this craziness? Well, I’m still trying to understand it myself. And though I don’t have a clear reason why I keep plugging along (I’m a masochist. I’m schizophrenic. Like Lady Ga-Ga, I was born this way), I do know several reasons why some writers give up:

Reason #1: Writing is hard. It is. The writing process, at times, can be incredibly fun and rewarding. When the words flow and nearly write themselves, it’s amazing. It’s almost a high type of feeling. A rush. But there are other times, many times, in which writing just plain sucks–the words do not come; or the words DO come, but they are crap; editing (it’s a pain in the butt, but SO necessary. Do not skip this step. Just saying); promoting and marketing (UUUGGGHHH); and then coming up with another great idea. Oh the pressure! No wonder I feast on lots of migraine pills, chocolate, and caffeine.

 

Click here to read the full post on Angela Scott’s site.

 

Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators

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This article by Megan McArdle originally appeared on The Atlantic on 2/12/14.

The psychological origins of waiting (… and waiting, and waiting) to work

Like most writers, I am an inveterate procrastinator. In the course of writing this one article, I have checked my e-mail approximately 3,000 times, made and discarded multiple grocery lists, conducted a lengthy Twitter battle over whether the gold standard is actually the worst economic policy ever proposed, written Facebook messages to schoolmates I haven’t seen in at least a decade, invented a delicious new recipe for chocolate berry protein smoothies, and googled my own name several times to make sure that I have at least once written something that someone would actually want to read.

Lots of people procrastinate, of course, but for writers it is a peculiarly common occupational hazard. One book editor I talked to fondly reminisced about the first book she was assigned to work on, back in the late 1990s. It had gone under contract in 1972.

I once asked a talented and fairly famous colleague how he managed to regularly produce such highly regarded 8,000 word features. “Well,” he said, “first, I put it off for two or three weeks. Then I sit down to write. That’s when I get up and go clean the garage. After that, I go upstairs, and then I come back downstairs and complain to my wife for a couple of hours. Finally, but only after a couple more days have passed and I’m really freaking out about missing my deadline, I ultimately sit down and write.”

Over the years, I developed a theory about why writers are such procrastinators: We were too good in English class. This sounds crazy, but hear me out.

 

Click here to read the full article on The Atlantic.