Butt-In-Chair: A No-Excuses Guide For Writers Who Struggle To Get Started Page 5

  For example:

  * “I’m a talented writer”

  * “I inspire others”

  * “I write brilliantly”

  Choose a phrase that most makes you feel inspired and confident.

  How to work with an affirmation—To start out working with an affirmation, you want to say it to yourself at least three times a day (feel free to say it more than that!). I suggest in the morning when you first get up, in the afternoon when you have a minute and at night before you go to bed.

  You also want to post it near where you write—and repeat it often—so you can refer to it when you need to.

  Now that you’re feeling more confident and writing more confidently, it’s time to think about your short and longer-term goals.

  What Do You Want to Achieve?

  Since you’re on the path to accepting personal responsibility for your procrastinating actions, you can begin to change your behaviors. It all starts with asking yourself one question:

  What do I want to achieve?

  What are your writing goals? What outcome do you desire to get from writing? What are your writing dreams?

  Your first step to achieving your goals is knowing what they are. Think about the goals you want to achieve. Maybe you want to complete a novel. Maybe you want to enter a fiction contest. Maybe you just want to earn some income from your writing.

  Whatever your goals are, you need to write them down.

  Next, you want to make sure that each goal is SMART:

  Specific–Make sure your goals are specific. Don’t just say “I want to write a novel.” Say, “I want to write a 300-page romance novel.” Or “I want to sell an article to Women’s Health.” The more specific, the better.

  Measurable–Having a specific goal also makes the goal measurable. Three hundred pages or writing for Women’s Health magazine are two very measurable goals.

  Attainable–Anything is attainable if you set your mind to it and work hard, but if you’re just starting out in your writing career, you want to make sure you’re not setting the bar too high, otherwise you might burnout before you reach your goal. I suggest starting with a small goal, such as writing a novel, and work into the larger goals, such as getting published or finding an agent.

  Realistic–Just like the goal being attainable, the goal should also be realistic. And my definition of “realistic” is something that’s believable for you. So if you don’t believe you can actually get a publisher (even though you can) then don’t make that one of your goals. You want your goals to be something you can truly believe in. Remember, believing is 90 percent of achieving.

  Timed–Although it doesn’t have to be a short timeframe, you want to make sure your goals are timed in some way, otherwise you could end up chasing the same goal for years without reaching the finish line. Here’s a good example, when I decided to write my first novel, I gave myself a three-month deadline. Choose a deadline that works for you when setting your writing goals. Maybe finishing your novel can happen in three months, but finding a publisher might take a year.

  Sit Down and Write!

  Grab your journal and do the following:

  Sit Down and Figure Out What You Want—This is your year. You are going to do big things. So what do you want? What’s your most important writing goal? What have you been dreaming about forever, but haven’t made a reality yet? What are you super passionate about? What makes you the happiest?

  Those are the goals you should be aiming for this year.

  Get Specific—The more specific, the better. Sure, you can just set your goal as “write every day,” but why not be more specific about it? Why not, instead, aim for “write 500 words every day?” Or “write five pages every day?”

  By being specific, you make your goals measurable. And being specific really allows you to attract what you’re dreaming about.

  Be sure to make sure each goal is SMART—There is a printable version of the SMART goals checklist in the appendix.

  Write It Down—Now that you have an idea of what your writing goals are, it’s time to make them concrete. Write them down. Keep a list of all the goals you want to achieve this year. Hang it somewhere you can see it often—On the bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car, etc. Remember, when you write something down, you intend it.

  Prioritize Your Goals—After you have your list of goals, it’s time to prioritize them. Which ones are the most important to you? Which ones do you feel are “must-achieves?”

  Review ‘Em—Once you have your list of goals prioritized, it’s time to give them one final review.

  If every goal on your list doesn’t meet the following criteria, it’s probably a goal you should reconsider.

  Your goals need to:

  Excite you—The goals on your list should be something you can’t live without achieving. Your goals should be impossible to ignore.

  Fuel you—Your goals should be your reason for getting out of bed in the morning. They should be what keeps you going when things get tough.

  Motivate you—If a goal is on your list, it should be there because you truly want to achieve it. The desire to achieve that goal will be the motivation you need to make it happen.

  Go a Step Further

  To further refine your goals, ask yourself the following for each one:

  Why do I want to achieve this goal? It’s important to know the reason why a goal is important to you. The importance of it can serve as a motivator for you to reach the goal, or it can serve as a de-motivator if the goal isn’t really important to you.

  What would happen if I took this goal off my list? If you have a goal on your list and taking it off wouldn’t make you miss it, it’s probably not a goal you really care about.

  What would be missing from my life if I never achieved this goal? If a goal is important to you, not achieving it would mean a part of yourself would be missing. You would feel incomplete. If this doesn’t ring true for that long-standing writing goal on your list, it may not be as important as you think.

  Why did I put this goal on my list to begin with? You obviously had a reason for putting it on there, so determine what that reason was.

  Is this goal really mine? When you think about the goal on your list you’ve been procrastinating on, does it disappoint you not to have completed it? Or do you almost feel relieved that you haven’t spent any time on it?

  As you begin to answer those questions about the goals on your list, you’ll start to figure out the purpose of each goal.

  Sometimes you have goal on your list that you think you want to achieve, but after diving deeper, you find out you don’t actually want to achieve it. You find out that it’s only on our list because you think it should be.

  But when it comes to a goal on your yearly to-do list, if it’s not something you truly want to achieve, it’s time to give it up.

  The Truth About Novel-Writing Goals

  Most writers have a dream of writing a novel someday. But then they don’t take any steps to make that dream a reality.

  The reason for this, is because there are three things you need to write a novel (more about this in the next section); and the first thing is the most important of all: A desire to write a novel.

  Now that probably sounds like a no-duh statement, but you’d be surprised how many writers say they want to write a novel and deep down they have absolutely no desire to.

  Writing a novel is a journey that’s not for the faint of heart. So if you’re only writing one because you think that you should be, not because you really want to be, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

  Many writers think that writing a novel is “what writers do,” so they keep the goal to “write a novel” on their to-do lists and then procrastinate on it forever.

  The truth is, writers should write whatever makes them happy. So if writing a novel doesn’t excite you or make you want to jump out of bed in the morning, it may not be the right goal for you.

  It’s your life. You
have only so long to live it. Why force yourself to do something you really don’t want to do? Think about it.

  Make Writing A Priority

  Next comes the most important part of reaching your goals: Making writing a priority.

  If writing is important to you, you need to make time for it.

  It’s as simple as that. Writing has to be a priority.

  If you want to achieve any of your writing goals, you need to accept the responsibility for writing being a priority.

  For you to be a successful author (or writer), you need to make writing a priority. You can’t skip it because you’re tired. Or because your favorite TV show is on. Or because you’d rather do something else.

  There are several things that are high on your priority list currently, but if writing is not one of them, you’re heading in the wrong direction (assuming that you actually do want to write).

  It’s your choice—Either you want to write or you don’t.

  There is no other option. If you want to be an author and write for a living or if you want to make an extra income off your writing, you have to sit down and write. If you want writing to be a hobby you actively participate in, you need to write.

  So it’s decision time: Is writing important to you or not? Do you want to write or not?

  Sign a Writing Goals Contract with Yourself

  If you are ready to commit to your writing goals, it’s time to consider a writing goals contract.

  * Signing a contract with yourself is a really good idea for a few reasons:

  * It forces you to give up your excuses and commit to your writing.

  * It will keep you accountable for reaching your goals.

  * It will serve as a reminder of everything you want to accomplish.

  * It will keep you on track because you know where you’re heading.

  * It will help you measure how you did at the end of the year.

  The Main Point

  Let’s face it–You can make goals and go after them without signing a contract with yourself. But the point of the contract is for you to make a commitment.

  Because if you never make a commitment to your writing, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

  If your writing is important to you, if you want to make your writing goals a reality, you have to be willing to make writing a priority. And you have to be willing to commit to yourself and to making your writing happen.

  Writing Goals Contract

  If you’re ready to commit to your writing; if you’re ready to make your writing goals happen this year; fill out this contract and sign it. [note: there is a printable version of this contract in the appendix].

  I, __________, commit to make my writing goals happen. I will take small steps every day that will move me in the direction of my dreams. I promise to make writing a priority in my life and stop putting myself on the bottom of my to-do list.

  The goals I am committing to are as follows:

  ……

  ……

  ……

  ……

  ……

  ……

  All of these goals are SMART and all of them are in alignment with the writing dreams I have for myself.

  I also commit to reviewing my goals on a regular basis to keep them updated and to ensure I’m staying on track. My review dates are as follows:

  Goal Review Date #1:

  Goal Review Date #2:

  Goal Review Date #3:

  Goal review Date #4:

  Goal Review Date #5:

  Signature ………………………..…………………..

  Date ……………………

  To Write Every Day, To Not Write Every Day—The Debate Continues

  It’s been argued back and forth for years about whether writers should be in the habit of writing every day.

  Some writers believe that daily writing isn’t necessary; some writers only want to write when they feel inspired; while others refuse to deviate from their daily writing schedules.

  Regardless of which group you fall into (or if you fall into another group completely), the important thing to remember is: The more often you write, the better your writing will become.

  I believe that writers need to be in the habit of writing, period. But that doesn’t mean you have to write every day (because remember, you don’t have to do anything).

  I believe that writers need to write as often as works for them. For some writers that’s daily, no exceptions. For others it’s a few times a week.

  But if you’re not in the habit of writing pretty regularly (at least a few days a week), you could be in trouble.

  In the book, The Practice of Creative Writing: A Guide for Students, by Heather Sellers, she discusses everything from the writing life to focus to procrastination to how to structure a story and more.

  The section that really made me start to think, however, fell under the category of “The Writing Habit.”

  In the book, Sellers says:

  “If you don’t have a writing habit, you aren’t being fair to yourself. You might even be setting yourself up for failure. If you write only when you are ‘in the mood,’ or when you ‘have some time,’ you will never be able to write enough material to see what you are good at, what needs work.

  Good writers write whether they are in the mood or not. They practice whether they feel like it or not. It’s the only way. Everyday practice. That’s how you get better.

  [Successful] Writers are simply people who have figured out how to spend enough time in the writing room every day in order to create enough work so that some of it is good.

  Remember: You will want to avoid writing. All writers struggle with procrastination, writer’s block, distraction, or laziness. All successful writers develop strategies to deal with these issues. Conquering not-writing is probably half the battle…”

  I think this section of information is profound. Maybe even genius.

  Not because Sellers is saying something new or something you probably didn’t already know.

  The reason I think it’s profound is because of its simplicity.

  Sellers states: “Good writers write whether they are in the mood or not. They practice whether they feel like it or not. It’s the only way. Everyday practice. That’s how you get better.”

  And that statement falls in line with the basic idea of being good at anything–whether that be writing or playing an instrument or playing a sport. You have to practice as much and as often as possible.

  The best of the best practice every single day, no exceptions.

  I think in the debate of “to write every day or not to write every day,” it really comes down to what you’re trying to accomplish.

  If your goal is to get published, then daily practice is probably what it’s going to take.

  But if you’re only a writer by hobby and don’t want to work toward publication, then when and how often you write really falls in line with you wanting to write.

  Create A Writing Schedule

  Regardless of how often you plan to spend time writing, I highly recommend you get on some kind of writing schedule. A writing schedule can help you get in the habit of writing, as well as help you maintain your creativity.

  When you write regularly, your creative juices will continually be flowing, which will help you stay on track and get writing done on a regular basis.

  Your writing schedule can be anything from “I will write from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday/Wednesday/Friday” to “I will spend two hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays writing.” Whatever works for you.

  Keep in mind the more specific you make your schedule, the easier it will be to commit to your writing. When you choose a specific writing time (For example, every morning at 7 a.m. for 30 minutes), it helps you to sit down and write when the time comes. If you just tell yourself you’re going to write for 30 minutes in the morning, you may get distracted and never get around to writing.

  Before you can create a wr
iting schedule, however, you need to know exactly how much time you have to work with.

  The Un-Schedule: What It Is and Why It Will Help You

  Psychologist Neil Fiore, Ph.D., is famous for creating the “un-schedule,” which is basically the exact opposite of a schedule.

  Dr. Fiore created the un-schedule because he knew that all people—and especially procrastinators—often set up a schedule for themselves that is full of things they never end up completing. They then get disappointed in themselves and give up.

  Fiore said in order for procrastinators to actually get stuff done, they need to do the opposite of creating a schedule and create an un-schedule.

  There are two reasons for this:

  1. An un-schedule can help you look ahead at your week to see what you already have going on, that way you can determine the amount of time you actually have available to commit to your writing.

  2. It helps you keep track of all the tasks you do throughout your week.

  So for the next week, try to create an un-schedule for your life. Be sure to take into consideration everything that you’re already committed to—work, commuting, activities with your friends/family, volunteering, fun, meetings, appointments, meals, chores, sleeping, etc.

  Using the un-calendar provided below, write in everything you already know you are doing this week. See the example for additional guidance.

  One thing to keep in mind, this un-schedule is not for things you know you should be doing. It is only for things you know you already are doing.

  For example, write on the un-schedule things you know you’ll be doing, such as sleeping, taking the kids to school and eating dinner. Do not write on the schedule “exercise” or “write” unless you know for sure you will be doing that activity at the time you wrote it in at. If, however, you want to make time for exercise, but aren’t already committed to it, leave it off the un-schedule.