Beating Writer’s Block – Procrastination and the Inner Editor
Finishing what you’ve started
Is as easy as writing the last line first. It really works. Define the mood of the conclusion and the rest follows …
If the inner editor is your problem
Make yourself finish a complete page before allowing yourself to look back at what you’ve written. If you hand-write, cover the page with a clean sheet of paper, if you type, set the page size to 50% or even 25% of normal, so you can’t easily read what you’re typing.
Do not correct spelling and grammar as you go
Either pick ten minutes at the beginning or end of your writing time, or choose one day a week to do editing on several pieces of work. If you constantly let your inner editor show you what’s wrong with your fiction, you will become demoralised. Keep editing for short sessions and remember – everybody writes shitty first drafts!
Procrastination, the mother of failure
If you work on a computer and find the internet or chatrooms a distraction, keep a pad by the keyboard and every time you stop writing to ‘research’ or ‘browse’ or whatever, just note down the time you stopped and started again. You may be shocked at how little time you actually give to your writing.
Buy a cheap timer
Work for twenty minutes without allowing yourself to be distracted and then have twenty minutes off.
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