Procrastination Guidelines for Writers

Procrastination Guidelines for Writers

Anyone who has ever set out to write something of merit understands that distractions are the bane of writing. To that end, a writer must understand the pitfalls of starting a project. To avoid the quicksand of a wandering mind, the following rules have been formulated. They have been written in order but feel free to experiment.

1. Get comfortable before beginning your project. Get whatever you need that will help you sit for hours so you won’t have an excuse to get up and search for whatever it is. Food, drinks, candy, coffee, cigarettes, whatever.
2. Play a computer game to get the feel of the computer.
3. When using a word processor, spend time at the beginning of your project learning about style sheets. This will occupy you for hours and most likely you still won’t understand everything you need to know.
4. Buy a manual for the word processor and wait for it to arrive before writing. You need to understand style sheets.
5. Research for project. Surf the internet and/or read a book.
6. Create style sheets, decide on which font to use and size (Times, 12 pt. is suggested.), double space lines, indent paragraphs, margin sizes, header and footer and enter info into style sheets. Feel good about your progress.
7. Take a break.
8. Remember at least one story idea and write it down before actually working on your project.
9. You may need music or radio in the background. Experiment with different music genres and radio talk shows. You’ll think you work better, and that’s what it’s all about.
10. Look for your outline. If you can’t find it or don’t have one, stare at the blinking cursor on your monitor.

Do not forget you have a telephone nearby. Feel free to call friends and family, not necessarily to talk about your project, but to loosen up the mind for writing. It is not recommended to watch television while trying to write but if something good is on, go ahead and tune in. You may see something you can write into your story. If it helps, call it research.

Fruitful procrastination is, of course, an art form. If you find yourself bored during procrastination, rest assured you’re doing it wrong. Meaningful procrastination takes time. Practice your craft. When you can devout a full day to preparing to write, you’re almost ready.