A few weeks ago, I asked how people were preparing for NaNoWriMo. Reader Teresa said she was ready so long as she didn’t give in to procrastiwriting. I love this idea and realized I do it all the time.

I don’t know if there’s an official definition of procrastiwriting, but I’m going to make one up and we’ll all accept it as truth (hopefully Teresa thinks this definition is accurate):

pro·cras·ti·wri·ting: (noun) the action of writing everything and anything except what you should be writing

I keep a running list of planned topics for this newsletter and usually have ideas scheduled a month or two in advance — I say planned because I usually don’t have anything written that far in advance. Right now, I’m writing this a few days before you’re reading it, and only because I’m waiting for Hurricane Nicole to move through the area.

I’ve clearly procrastinated writing this newsletter, but I’ve still been writing a lot of stuff — just nothing I’m supposed to write.

Do you procrastiwrite? What are you writing instead of what you should be writing? Hit reply or respond in the comments.

This Week’s Featured Articles

Deliberate Procrastination May Be The Answer To All Your Writing Struggles by Jordan Gross

It is so crucial to follow your curiosity. Do not allow it to become a distraction, but do allow it to lead you to unknown parts of your brain, unknown parts of your intellect that open your world to new ideas.

The 3 Weirdest Ways Famous Authors Have Beat Writing Procrastination by Berenike Schriewer, Ph.D.

Herman Melville, best known for his work Moby-Dick, had a problem. Or, as one pithy author put it, he had “a whale of a writing problem,” alternating periods of obsessive binge-writing with severe blockages.

The Art of Procrastination: What We Can Learn About Writing From How I Met Your Mother by Justin Cox

You know how it goes: you pull up your favorite writing group page to check out the latest comments. You spend a few minutes interacting with people and that red bubble pops up. Before you realize it, thirty-minutes have gone by and you’re looking at your college roommate’s vacation pictures. It sucked you in.

Many Writers Are Undone By Coffee, Procrastination, And Alcoholism by Walter Rhein

You really don’t have to worry about running out of things to write about. You’re already a different person now than you were when you read the preceding sentence. You have something new to offer on any subject any time you care to sit down and write.

For more writing advice, subscribe to This Week In Writing or check out my book, Write Now: How To Pursue Your Dream And Start Writing Today!