Stop Making Excuses and Write
This Week In Writing, we explore excuses we use to avoid writing and discuss methods to get out of our own way.
As writers, we love adding chains that keep us from writing. Whether it’s a chain of procrastination, writer’s block, laziness, or anything else, we weigh ourselves down with these excuses. Well, as Wilson Phillips says, we’ve got to “break free from the chains.”
We writers make a lot of excuses for not writing. It’s important to identify these excuses and learn how to overcome them. There’s an entire chapter and exercise in my book dedicated to this essential writing task.
I often refer to Andy Weir’s Write Now interview because his response to writer’s block cuts to the core. He says:
No, my main problem isn’t writer’s block, it’s “writer’s lazy-assed work avoidance”. Sitting down and actually doing the work is hard and sometimes requires a huge amount of effort. So the biggest challenge for me isn’t coming up with the ideas, it’s forcing myself to sit down and do the work.
How often do we writers have an idea and decide to avoid putting in the work? I don’t know about you, but Andy’s words hit hard.
What chains do you weigh yourself down with, and how do you break free? Hit reply, and let’s chat.