I’ll get to it later - Why you hate writing - The setup

Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

I’ll get to it later
Why you hate writing
The setup

No self-respecting book on writing would be complete without mentioning procrastination.

For some reason, we writers just love to do it. It’s one of our favorite things.

When things haven’t been going well, you look at that chair in front of the computer. And it terrifies you. You feel a little pain in your stomach.

But wait. What is that? Maybe you should go to the doctor! That’s a sensible thing to do. So you go to the doctor.

And when you get back (it turned out you were fine), you look at the chair again. But hey! The washing hasn’t been done! You’re not a slob, and you can’t write with all this mess! So you get up and do it. In fact, while you’re at it, it’s been way too long since you did any dusting, too. Might as well get it all out of the way, so you can focus on your writing. And hey, while you’re at it, you can’t write on an empty stomach.

Oh, you’d write — no, you really would — but you’re just never very productive when you’re hungry—

Stop. Right now!

Procrastination will kill you.

And I don’t mean that figuratively. I’m dead serious. Procrastination will kill you. It’s laziness, pure and simple. You can justify it all you want. But if you want to finish your writing, you’ve got to sit your butt in that chair.

Whenever you’re in the mood for procrastination, whip out this book. Crank up the Idea Factory, and jump into gear.

I promise you, it will vanish every time.