Day 782: Writing streak to combat writing procrastination
I was listening to Joanna Penn’s Productivity For Authors audiobook. I have listened to it before, one or two years ago, and I enjoyed it at the time and found it helpful. But this time as I was listening, I noticed something about myself.
The audiobook was talking about how to motivate yourself to sit down and write every day and form a writing habit. She talked about how difficult it could be to get yourself to write.
I clearly remember feeling like that before, but I realized that since I started my writing streak experiment, it hasn’t been a problem for me. So the writing streak, even though it was really difficult for me when I started it, ended up helping me overcome that hurdle of motivating myself to write when I didn’t feel like it.
I think it’s because I got into the habit of writing every day, even when the IBS made me feel really sick. My bare minimum is so small—only 100 words—that it’s easy to get that much done no matter how crappy I’m feeling. It’s a small enough amount that I can write that on my phone even if I’m in bed or on the toilet (sorry for the TMI).
Before, I would procrastinate a lot before starting work. I even wrote about that here in my daily writing blog. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me to get myself to write when I enjoyed writing so much! It was so frustrating and such a paradox.
But ever since starting the writing streak, I haven’t had that problem. I started overcoming that hurdle of just starting my writing because the 100-word bare minimum was so easy to do. And once I built up several days in the streak, I didn’t want to break it, especially since the bare minimum is so easy to do.
In fact, now I have other tasks that are my “frogs,” or the things I have to do first thing before I do anything else, just to make sure they get done. My writing is NOT one of my “frogs” anymore.
So I can whole-heartedly endorse writing streaks for overcoming that procrastination hurdle of sitting down to write. Now, it is suddenly easy for me to get started on my writing work. I honestly didn’t think the writing streak would do this for me, so it’s a pretty nice surprise.
I had another bad IBS morning, so I again got started late. But I still managed to get my “frogs” done and start writing at 2 pm. I admit I took a 30 minute break, though, since my husband brought home a nice treat for me to eat (who’s not going to break for a treat when it’s hand delivered???).
However, I still got a couple hours of work done, and I feel I was able to focus pretty well, too. I think I just need to keep practicing and hopefully I’ll be able to focus deeply every time I sit down to write.
Writing streak: 261 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 6 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1694 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 21 minutes
Email: time spent: 4 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 58 minutes
My takeaway for today: While starting the writing streak was really hard, it seems to have helped combat my old problem of procrastinating writing, since I now don’t have much of a problem getting to work every day.
The audiobook was talking about how to motivate yourself to sit down and write every day and form a writing habit. She talked about how difficult it could be to get yourself to write.
I clearly remember feeling like that before, but I realized that since I started my writing streak experiment, it hasn’t been a problem for me. So the writing streak, even though it was really difficult for me when I started it, ended up helping me overcome that hurdle of motivating myself to write when I didn’t feel like it.
I think it’s because I got into the habit of writing every day, even when the IBS made me feel really sick. My bare minimum is so small—only 100 words—that it’s easy to get that much done no matter how crappy I’m feeling. It’s a small enough amount that I can write that on my phone even if I’m in bed or on the toilet (sorry for the TMI).
Before, I would procrastinate a lot before starting work. I even wrote about that here in my daily writing blog. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me to get myself to write when I enjoyed writing so much! It was so frustrating and such a paradox.
But ever since starting the writing streak, I haven’t had that problem. I started overcoming that hurdle of just starting my writing because the 100-word bare minimum was so easy to do. And once I built up several days in the streak, I didn’t want to break it, especially since the bare minimum is so easy to do.
In fact, now I have other tasks that are my “frogs,” or the things I have to do first thing before I do anything else, just to make sure they get done. My writing is NOT one of my “frogs” anymore.
So I can whole-heartedly endorse writing streaks for overcoming that procrastination hurdle of sitting down to write. Now, it is suddenly easy for me to get started on my writing work. I honestly didn’t think the writing streak would do this for me, so it’s a pretty nice surprise.
I had another bad IBS morning, so I again got started late. But I still managed to get my “frogs” done and start writing at 2 pm. I admit I took a 30 minute break, though, since my husband brought home a nice treat for me to eat (who’s not going to break for a treat when it’s hand delivered???).
However, I still got a couple hours of work done, and I feel I was able to focus pretty well, too. I think I just need to keep practicing and hopefully I’ll be able to focus deeply every time I sit down to write.
Writing streak: 261 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 6 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1694 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 21 minutes
Email: time spent: 4 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 58 minutes
My takeaway for today: While starting the writing streak was really hard, it seems to have helped combat my old problem of procrastinating writing, since I now don’t have much of a problem getting to work every day.
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