Monday, August 20, 2012

Top 10 Reasons to Avoid Writing

One of the gifts my dear mother left me was the art of procrastination. Nowhere is this gift more evident than each morning when I sit down to write.

Here then are my top very important, essential things I simply must take care of before I can put one word down on paper:

1. Post a new blog, like this one
2. Update my Facebook and Twitter status
3. Play a game of Spider Solitaire
4. Walk the dog
5. Empty the dishwasher
6. Play another game of Spider Solitaire
7. Accept/reject Facebook friend requests
8. Answer e-mails
9. Check the sales ranking of each of my books on Amazon
10. Play another game of Spider Solitaire (will I never get tired of you, my love?)

So what do you do to put off what you should be doing? Really--tell me so I have one more reason to put off working on my work in progress...

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10 comments:

  1. One of my favorite quotes is, "Procrastinate now, don't put it off."

    A lot of those are my list as well except instead of Spider Solitaire I play Castleville on Facebook, lol. Also I play with my dogs, check my text messages, listen to music, and IM my friends. And I should be writing now, but as you can see I'm not. :)

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  2. Facebook/twitter, emails, and then of course I HAVE to surf the web looking for new music to inspire me, and oh the cats want attention, and maybe I need to read just ONE more book for "research purposes," and hey I haven't been online for a couple of hours so I need to check in again...

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  3. Oh Rick...Spider Solitaire is a demanding mistress, I concur. lol

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  4. Rick: I'd say your list is eerily similar to mine, but I have a sinking feeling all of us writers do similar things while procrastinating. That said, I'd probably slightly alter my list to include things like "play fetch with cat (until her meowing drives me nuts and I have to take her ball away)" and "watch random YouTube videos" rather than "walk the dog" and "play Spider Solitaire" :)

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  5. Everything the same except walking the dog. We don't have a pooch right now and our cat doesn't take well to a leash.

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  6. Sometimes I hate being a SAHM. All the things I used to use as procrastination aides in school (organizing drawers, other random piddly chores) have become my JOB. I read a lot more now than I used to. And I used to read a LOT. I also take naps after my kids go to school. Oh, yeah, and Castleville. :D

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  7. Hmm... my list sounds a lot like yours. I try to read blog posts, but always end up over on Facebook first. That usually takes quite a bit of time as I have been sucked into the games there. Then I post a blog, if I have time. I have other things to do, like watch the latest series on Netflix I have been neglecting, read a book, play World of Warcraft, play with my kitties, goof off some more on Facebook, cook dinner and clean the kitchen and possibly look at my notes for writing at some point but no particular order. :)

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  8. Go running, do the daily crossword puzzle, look for silly thing to post on Chuck's FB page, snuggle with Husband ...

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  9. My list is so similar, except no solitaire, I finally made myself go cold turkey, and I avoid games like the plague. I have even gone so far as to not check what games are preinstalled on my new computer, and iPad. Until recently, tumblr took up loads of my time. Iris soooo addictive if you follow the right people. So. As I have a book contract to finish, and new classes starting at Uni soon, which I am dreading, as this time I have two tough subjects, they involve lots of reading, and also writing. So, with all those things kicked, I should have tons of time to write, right? Wrong. I went and got sick, and several courses of antibiotics later, still am. Life, she is a bugger.

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