PROCRASTINATING WRITERS HAS MOVED!!

Hello fellow Procrastinating Writers...

Since Procrastinating Writers has been growing by the days, I decided it was time to upgrade to a unique URL and move the site to a Wordpress format. I thought this was the best option for this blog moving forward.

Please visit: http://www.procrastinatingwritersblog.com and be sure to update your RSS Feeds and bookmarks so you don't miss any great Procrastinating Writers content!

Thanks for understanding...and here's to the future of the Procrastinating Writers Blog.

-jen

Get Specific With Your Writing Goals

When a marathon is being planned, one of the most important steps in the process is deciding on an end point. Runners need to know how far they have to run and where they will end up when the race is finished.

The same thing goes for your writing.

In order to fully commit to your writing, you first need to know what your goals are.

What are you trying to accomplish?

• Do you want to finish a novel?
• Do you want to start a novel?
• Are you trying to write a screenplay?
• Do you want to start submitting your short stories to literary magazine competitions?
• Are you ready to try publication?

Spend some time really thinking about what you want to achieve with your writing. Here are some steps to get you started:

1. Make a List--Write down all the writing goals you want to achieve in your career. Anything goes at this point in the goal-setting process.
   
   
2. Narrow It Down--Once you've written down all your goals, you want to take a look at the list and narrow it down. Which goals are long-term? Which goals can you achieve immediately (such as writing daily)?
   
   
3. Choose 1 or 2 Goals--It's easy to get overwhelmed with your writing goals if you try to accomplish too many at once. It's best to choose 1 or 2 of the goals from your list to achieve first. Once you reach that finish line, then you can choose a couple more goals from your list.

The reason why it's important to be specific with your goals is so you know exactly what you are working toward. It's much easier to procrastinate on your writing when you have no idea what your end goal is.

But when you have a clear plan, and a bigger picture in mind, you'll be more likely to actually sit down and write.

Also, having an end-goal in mind will not only motivate you, but will give you a reason why you should sit down and write every time you feel like procrastinating.

My current wrting goal is to start and finish my second novel. What are your writing goals?

Stop Procrastinating in 5 Easy Steps

Over and over writers say that they want to learn how to stop procrastinating. So here are 5 steps that you can take:

1. Sit down in front of your computer.


2. Open a Word document.


3. Place your fingers on your keyboard.


4. Start typing.


5. Don't stop 'til you've written at least 500 to 1,000 words.

Yes. It's really that simple.

Script Fenzy Starts April 1

On April 1st, writers all over the world are starting day one of Script Frenzy.

What is Script Frenzy, you ask?

"Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April," according to the Script Frenzy Web site.

Here are the rules:

1. 100 Scripted Pages--You have 30 days, from April 1 at 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on April 30, to write 100 pages of an original script.
   
   
2. You Must Verify Your Total--Before midnight on May 1, you have to login to the Script Frenzy Web site and submit your text. (It's exactly the same as NaNoWriMo, for those of you familiar with it.)
   
   
3. You have to Wait to Start--You have to wait until midnight on April 1 to start. No starting early. Everyone has the same amount of time. That's part of the challenge.
   
   
4. Write Anything Scripted--You are allowed to write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book or graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels or any other type of script you can think of.
   
   
5. Grab a Friend--You can choose to write your script alone, or with a partner. (If you choose to write with a partner you will write toward the 100-page goal together.)

If you want more details, check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Challenges like this are great for people who procrastinate because it forces you to really focus and get writing done. (And for an extra kick, try using the Write or Die productivity tool in Kamikaze mode!)

A Free Productivity Tool for Procrastinating Writers

I was recently introduced to an awesome writing productivity tool from a follower on Twitter (@armselig). The tool is called “Write or Die,” which is “a Web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences,” according to the tool’s creator, Dr. Wicked.

Here’s how “Write or Die” works:

• There are 3 modes: Gentle, Normal and Kamikaze.
  
• In Gentle Mode, when you stop writing, you will get “writing reminders” that pop up on your screen reminding you to keep writing until your time limit is up/you have hit your word count.
  
• In Normal Mode, when you stop writing, you’ll hear a very annoying noise, which will only go away if you keep writing.
  
• In Kamikaze Mode, when you stop writing, it gives you a few seconds and then it starts deleting your words. To keep it from deleting everything, you have to keep writing.
  
• Once you choose your word count/time limit, mode and how “forgiving” you want the tool to be, you’re off and writing.

Now before you try out this tool, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• This is for productivity ONLY—Do not expect to write anything even remotely close to The Great Gatsby or Grapes of Wrath just by using this tool. This tool is not here to make you a better writer. It’s here to make you write, period. (You can worry about editing what you’ve written after you’ve written it!)
  
• Kamikaze mode is the BY FAR the best mode to use—Since it deletes your writing if you stop for more than a few seconds, you are forced to keep writing in order to not get anything deleted. If you are serious about getting writing done, this is the mode for you.
  
• If you’re attempting this year’s NaNoWriMo challenge, Write or Die will easily help you reach your daily word count (of 1667 words).


• Remember to select all the text you wrote and copy it—There is no way to save your text using this tool, and once you navigate away from the page, everything you’ve written is gone. That’s why you need to copy what you wrote and paste it into a Word document in order to save it.

By using this writing productivity tool, you are learning to shut off your inner editor and just getting writing done. And that, Procrastinating Writers, is what it truly takes to be a successful writer.

How Do YOU Procrastinate?

"If and When were planted, and Nothing grew"--Proverb

Procrastination is the enemy of success. It's the killer of dreams. It's the flaw in the plan. And yet, knowing those three sentences are 100 percent true, writers still procrastinate.

What's strange, though, is most don't even realize when they're procrastinating.

In order to overcome procrastination, you first need to be able to identify what procrastination looks like for you. Here are some common procrastination scenarios:

• Spending too much time doing "research" for your writing project.



• Doing something less important (laundry) instead of doing something that's really important (writing).



• Taking a short break ("I'm just going to wash the dishes and check my e-mail, then I'm writing"), but allowing it to turn into a long break (you end up doing chores all night or surfing the Internet until bed time) so you end up not writing at all.



• Placing blame on everything--"I'm too tired to write;" "I have way too many things to do right now;" "The kids want me to watch a movie with them before I write;" "My house is a mess! I need to clean before I can write."



• Thinking that not writing really won't make a difference one way or another.

It's very important to identify what procrastination looks like for you. Take a good read through that list, then for the next week, keep a procrastination log.

Get a notebook, create a Word document on your computer or create a note in your BlackBerry. As you go through your day, write down any time you procrastinate. You want to make sure you write down three things:

• What you did to procrastinate (did you take a nap, watch TV, do chores, read your favorite book for the millionth time, etc)
  
  
• What you were avoiding (writing that blog post, making a call to set up an interview for your freelance article, finishing the chapter in your novel, etc)
  
  
• If you ever managed to do whatever task you were avoiding

At the end of the week, take a look at your list. What does procrastination look like for you? How much writing did you actually get done?

Once you identify procrastination, you can then begin to make strides toward getting writing done.

So...what does procrastination look like for YOU?

What Do YOU Want To Know?

Hello Procrastinators! I just wanted to put out this mid-week post to ask you all a very important question:

What do you want to know?

What writing advice are you in need of? What do you want to learn more about? What will help you get your writing done?

Drop me a quick comment with your ideas. I'm all ears...