Quill’s Corner: Why am I not writing, again?

Posted by SandyQuill in Columns, Quill's Corner | 3 comments

Why Am I Not Writing, Again?
or
Excuses and Resolutions

by Sandi Layne

All right, I confess.  I am not writing three thousand words a day right now because I’m moving.  On the date this column is posting, I might have Internet in my new house – but I might not, so I am writing, gasp, early!  Hence the performance lag.  A twitter-friend and graphic artist/grad student I know and I have worked out a tweet-nagging arrangement to just hit one thousand words a day at present.  For me, that’s just for five days a week, probably until school starts again.

Of course I’m counting this column toward my daily total. Because it is, after all, productive writing.

I am not writing to speed, though, because I am busy and my brain is currently scattered.  (Note to self: Finish blog post!)  I asked Webmistress Extraordinaire, who is working on a novel, if she had something she would like me to discuss and the subject of avoiding writing came up.

(This came up in Gchat, which means that we were both at our computers and typing – we just weren’t, you know, being productive.)

I was inspired to conduct a poll on twitter (not a source of all knowledge and wisdom, certainly, but it is the fastest way I know of to get quick answers from a random sampling of humanity) to find out why writers sometimes don’t…well…write!

My Name is Sandi and I’m a Procrastinatrix

The biggest reason most writers just aren’t writing is due to willful procrastination.  By this, I mean they are choosing to put off the job of writing.  In my experience, this is fairly easy to accomplish; all you have to do is anything else.  Fully forty percent of current respondents do this.  They probably play on Tumblr, or twitter (or they wouldn’t have seen my poll!) or perhaps they do some websurfing.  They might choose to swim or shop or watch a movie.

There is nothing wrong with any of these activities!  But they do provide distractions from the job of writing.  If you’re serious about pursuing writing as a job – something for which you are held accountable – procrastinating needs to be kept to a minimum.

To resolve this issue, I personally recommend To-Do Lists. And not a list you write and stick in your purse or attaché case, either.  Create a list that will smack you between the eyes. I have a Task bar in my Gmail, a list on my fridge (so I see it every time I want something to drink), and I keep a tally on – you guessed it – twitter.  All of this is great unless you’re inured to self-imposed guilt. If so, revert to the old “reward/punish cycle” that has been a tool of self-motivation since women started dieting.

And if you are as persistent in your procrastinational tendencies as a particularly vibrant spark of writer-dom I’ve e-conversed with this week, I recommend making that incentive monetary. ;-)  She puts her writing at the bottom of her list!

Too Many Plot-bunnies!

Another popular reason for “Why aren’t you writing?” is that some writers have intensely active imaginations.  Like a kid at an ice-cream parlor, they sit there with wide eyes and twitchy fingers, unwilling or unable to make a decision.

To these decision-hampered people, I offer this bit of advice:  Work on multiple stories.

Seriously.

It is quite all right, if you have a choice, to choose more than one.  Your imagination is not, after all, an ice cream parlor.  It isn’t a limited-resource environment. If you work on multiple plots, you will not detract from anything substantial – except your time. But if you were going to work on all of them anyway, this is a negligible excuse.  Overindulging will not add fat to your diet or sugar to your bloodstream.

Truly.

What often happens, is that one of your plot-bunnies will become more vocal than the others, requiring more devoted attention and you can give it to them. And you know what?

The other stories will wait.  And if you have a flash of inspiration for one of them, you can write it down.

Seriously. Writing is cool, like that.

Direct quote: “RL is breaking me.”

For many of the rest of not-writing writers, real life gets in the way. For them, writing is not part of their “real life.” And I don’t say this to cast aspersions on them – not in the least!  I only mean to say that if you are a working writer, writing is your real life.  It is not a hobby – it’s a job.  It’s real. Even if your characters are fictional.

So if “real life” is your reason for not writing – allow yourself not to feel guilt over not writing.  Because, for you, it’s not a priority yet. You’re tinkering. And there’s a lot of mellowness in acknowledging that.

However, if you are a working writer, and “real life” is a problem, then you need to make a sincere effort to make sure that everyone knows you are a writer. That this is your job.  Most of our loved ones want us to succeed….  Do you want to succeed?

Success is Scary

For some people – some of you who are reading these words, even – success is terrifying. Because if you succeed in writing, you will be holding yourself accountable for writing again, for putting your work out there and letting other people read it.  Chew it up. Spit it out. JUDGE YOUR WORK.

And that, friends and neighbors, is a frightening prospect.  You have to do a gut-check.

Being a writer sounds awesome. And it is. But it requires bravery to a degree unknown before you first put yourself out there for anonymous evaluation.  People who write often tell others they shouldn’t write if they can do anything else and be happy.

Can you? Then do it.  If not, suck it up, as I’ve said before.  Accept that you might succeed. Finish.  Accomplish your goals. And that you will have to do it again.

In any event, if you’re a writer…write!  “You can do it!”