How To Make Yourself Procrastination Proof

Procrastination is a dirty word, especially to writers, so why do we do it so often?

It’s easy to think that it’s something only unknown writers suffer from, but it’s not.

Even the most prolific writers find it hard to sit down and write when they don’t feel like it.

Stephen King, who is considered a prolific writer, in his book, On Writing, said that he writes a minimum of 2,000 words a day, which for him is 10 handwritten pages. But even he suffers from procrastination some days.

“On some days those ten pages come easily; I’m up and out doing errands by eleven thirty in the morning, perky as a rat in liverwurst.  More frequently, as I grow older, I find myself eating lunch at my desk and finishing the work around one-thirty in the afternoon. Sometimes, when the words come hard, I’m still fiddling around at teatime. Either way is fine with me but only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words,”

And in those words of wisdom lies the “secret” of how to procrastination proof yourself.

And just in case you missed it, the “secret” is to sit down and write, and don’t get up until you’ve finished, no matter what.

In fact, if you did the same with anything you have to do that you don’t feel like doing – household chores, shopping, washing the car, doing laundry – you’d have what author Don Aslett calls a “48-Hour Day.”

They say that how you do anything is how you do everything.

So quit procrastinating about everything.

Turn off Netflix, put down your phone, stop reading this, and get your writing done, whether you feel like it or not, and no matter how long it takes, even if you’re “still fiddling around at teatime.”

There’s no excuses for procrastinating.

None.

The 5 Minute Antidote to Writing More, Writing Faster, And Writing Better.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

How much can you write in 5 minutes?

You probably think, “not much.”

But if you’ve ever done a speed writing exercise, you’ll know that you can easily write 2/3 pages in 5 minutes.

Doing speed writing exercises is easy. You just use 3 random words (easy to find online from a random word generator page), set a timer for 5 minutes, and start writing. You can write whatever you want but those 3 words must be included in your opening paragraph.

These exercises are fun to do and a simple antidote on days when you don’t feel like writing because they help get you into the writing “zone” quickly, in just 5 minutes (unsurprisingly).

So if you can write 2/3 page in 5 minutes, you should be able to write 8 to 10 pages in an hour (1 hour ÷ 5 minutes = 12 x 2/3page = 8) depending on your own personal typing/writing speed.

Once you know how much you can write in an hour, imagine how much you can write in a week. And that’s if you’re only writing for one hour a day.

This is the power of not procrastinating.

It’s sitting down and writing without giving yourself excuses to stop.

And all it takes is 5 minutes to write 2/3 of a page.

When the 5 minutes is up, you won’t want to stop.

Do You Know I’m On Twitter? And Two Other Things You Should Know.

Find Me On Twitter

This is my first post of 2023 and I hope you’re all busy writing, earning, and working hard on your New Year’s Resolutions, which hopefully include a plan for being a wealthy (or maybe even a wealthier) writer this year.

I thought that perhaps this New Year is a good time to mention 3 things I’ve done that I haven’t mentioned before.

Firstly, I’m on Twitter. I have been for a while now (10 years, in fact) but I keep forgetting to mention it.

It’s worth following me on Twitter because it’s where I share ways to earn more money writing, as well as sharing current writing markets, writing quotes, funny writing memes, and a whole boat-load more writing related things.

My Twitter name is @RuthIsWriting and the direct link to my account is https://twitter.com/RuthIsWriting. 

My second thing to mention is that I’ve resurrected my publishing company, Cheriton House Publishing, and it’s back online at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com.

This is where you can find all my books as well as plenty of free eBooks you can download straight away (I’m going to be adding another one today).

The third thing is something that I haven’t done yet but I’m working on it, and that is, I’m going to be re-vamping my RuthIsWriting.com website.

It’s getting a huge upgrade as well as new pages being added, including a page of free writing resources. I want RuthIsWriting.com to be one of the best websites for writers who are serious about writing and earning money.

I’m also creating a whole new slew of emails for writers that are packed with dozens of ways that you can start writing and earning money, and they will be sent out soon. If you’re not already subscribed to my list, you can do so at RuthIsWriting.com. You’ll also get a free ebook.

So while I might not have seemed busy online lately, I’ve been busy behind the scenes making huge changes to help you write more and earn more.

And of course the most important thing for you to do, is write more than you ever have before.

How To Get Your Bum In Your Writing Chair More Often

Photo by Timo Volz on Unsplash

No one ever regrets being a writer.

Yet often writers regret not writing.

It’s not enough to be a writer, it’s about how often you apply your backside to your writing chair (as I’ve said often.)

The question is that, if we love to write, why is it so hard to sit down and write some days?

If you read about all the successful writers who’ve written dozens, and sometimes, hundreds of books, they all say they have a rigid writing routine that they stick to no matter what.

And that, (in my humble yet extremely accurate opinion) is the biggest secret to their success.

Yes, they are talented writers, but that means nothing at all if they don’t sit down and write.

They never say that they didn’t feel like writing so they played computer games instead.

Nope.

No matter how much they wanted to do something else, they didn’t let procrastination get the better of them.

How about you?

Do you give in to procrastination?

Or do you put your butt in your writing chair whether you fell like it or not?

How many books could you write every year if you put your bum in your writing chair more often?

The thing is, no one’s stopping you. 

So stop reading this and start writing.