Inspiration, Day Five
by Dame Eleanor Hull
If you’ve put off writing till Friday, and now you’re tired, here are some suggestions:
Take a pad of paper and your favorite pen and go out to breakfast. Write while (or after) you eat tasty, nutricious food that someone else has cooked and served.
Close this browser, now, and write for 30-60 minutes before you do anything else. After that you can do anything you want: errands, coffee, the gym, a nap, read a novel, eat chocolate donuts. Hey, it’s Friday and you’ve done your writing. You’ll have earned a reward.
Really tired? Give in. Go back to bed. Get some rest. When you wake up, write for 30-60 minutes before you do anything else. No excuses on this second start to the day.
Arrange to meet a friend or a colleague for a writing date. Take 15 minutes at the start to catch up, but then write for 30-60 minutes. You’re not allowed to talk during that time. This is the adult version of parallel play. If you have a kid of the right age, it might work to take the kid to the coffee shop with a book, coloring book, or similar activity. That is, you write, the kid colors (or whatever). Not the other way around.
On the other hand, if you love coloring books, that can be your reward for writing on Friday.
Check-in will be up around noon.
While procrastination is real, for many writers what looks (and can feel) like procrastination really involves substantial *necessary* subconscious effort that then enables the excellent flow of the words during the “real writing” period of putting words on the page. In such cases, forcing the process too quickly to the putting-words-on-page stage can end up counterproductive, as it only delays the the necessary subconscious effort.
So, at least in some cases, feeling too “tired” on Friday to put words on the page may be a sign from your subconscious that it still has more work to do.
Ooh, thanks for the ideas. I’m going to go, put on the washing and do 60 mins of writing, and then, after I’ve hung the washing, I’ll allow myself to stay in the garden, and get those pansies planted!
[...] A great strategy for jump-staring your writing. [...]