I’ve Been Thinking About Procrastination

I’ve been thinking about procrastination. I do it, do you?

Here are a few ideas I’ve started using that seem to help a lot.

1. If I write about my projects in my morning journal, I feel an urge to write more about them when I go to the computer.
2. My chiropractor says that for the sake of my back and neck I should not sit at my computer for more than twenty-minutes at a time. I bargained with him, saying, “How about thirty?”“Okay, says he, but only if you walk a mile or more every day.”

“Aha,” I said feeling boastful…”I do!”

When I started setting the timer on the stove in thirty-minute increments, I was able to immerse myself in the flow and found myself setting it time and again. Two hours can pass swiftly in that way, so that I have a feeling of accomplishment when I close shop at the end of the day. The same concepts apply to the thirty-first draft as for the first.

3. I usually write 500 word blogs. For that length, I can come up with a mini-story that is usually a satisfying read. Novel scenes can be done in the same way, but they sometimes need to be longer. To me, a scene is a change of characters, places or activities.

4. When it’s bedtime, I can ask my sub-conscious to work on a blog, a poem, or a novel scene during the night. In the morning, I can jot down some notes, and thus am I motivated and inspired to inch toward completion. I’ve written and published three novels so far and I’m now working on a couple more.

What do you do to cure procrastination, even temporarily? How do you keep yourself going? What makes writing easier and more enjoyable for you?

“Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life’s hard.” John Bytheway

Author: DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites is the author of the Florida Springs Trilogy, which includes Sacred Spring, Book one, Living Spring, Book two, and Clear Spring, book three. Her stand alone novel, Go West,is a sweet western romance set in the post WWI era in Colorado.  DiVoran loves to read poetry and  delights in writing it too. Born in Nevada, she grew up in Colorado and New Mexico. She and her husband, Bill, along with their young children moved to Florida in 1965 to participate in the Space program. Their house backs on a nature sanctuary, and DiVoran enjoys daily walks through the beautiful Florida woods on a trail. DIVoran is also part of a group blog, Old Things R New, where she shares poetry, paintings and memories. View all posts by DiVoran Lites