Writing Wednesday: But I Don’t Want To!
We all have those days. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been writing for six months or six years—or sixty years, I assume (I’ll let you know for sure when I get there)—but we all have days where we just don’t want to write. We’re tired. We’re cranky. We’re distracted by important things going on in the other parts of our lives, or by unimportant but entertaining things, like nice weather or a new video game. We’re just not in the right head space.
Whatever the cause, we’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced the days when we have the time to write, when we know that we should write, but we just can’t seem to force ourselves to actually do it. (Which often leads to some really productive days of organizing cabinets, cleaning under the fridge, or de-pilling sweaters, because those things can seem really fun when you’re doing your best not to write.)
But what to do about those days, aside from mammoth cleaning binges that still aren’t addressing the actual problem? (Note: I’m distinguishing these unmotivated days from days when you’re legitimately blocked. Those often require other tactics, though you could also try this one.)
One of my techniques for the days where I’ve been staring idly at the computer for forty minutes is to, in essence, trick myself. I’ll tell myself that I just have to write one page. Just one. None of this writing for two or three hours thing. Just one little page. And if it’s crap, I can throw it out. Usually, this bribe to myself will manage to get me onto the computer. And then one of two things usually happens.
1) I write one page. Though not the best outcome, it’s a good one. After all, it’s one page that I didn’t have, and one page that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t made myself write. But more often this happens:
2) I write one page and then keep going. As I work, I get over whatever unmotivated, cranky feelings were keeping me from writing. I get into whatever I’m working on—I think up a cool line, or get involved in the scene more deeply than I had thought I would. And so I keep going, and actually end up putting in something close to my normal writing time.
The weird thing is, I’ve done this enough that I know I’m tricking myself. I sort of think that Cranky Me should know better than to fall for that “one page” line. But I also think it’s partially that I’ve given myself an out, the knowledge that I could quit after one page without feeling guilty, that keeps me going. I don’t feel pressured to write when I don’t feel like it, and that frees me up to actually begin to feel like it.
What do you do to get yourself writing when you don’t want to?
Whatever the cause, we’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced the days when we have the time to write, when we know that we should write, but we just can’t seem to force ourselves to actually do it. (Which often leads to some really productive days of organizing cabinets, cleaning under the fridge, or de-pilling sweaters, because those things can seem really fun when you’re doing your best not to write.)
But what to do about those days, aside from mammoth cleaning binges that still aren’t addressing the actual problem? (Note: I’m distinguishing these unmotivated days from days when you’re legitimately blocked. Those often require other tactics, though you could also try this one.)
One of my techniques for the days where I’ve been staring idly at the computer for forty minutes is to, in essence, trick myself. I’ll tell myself that I just have to write one page. Just one. None of this writing for two or three hours thing. Just one little page. And if it’s crap, I can throw it out. Usually, this bribe to myself will manage to get me onto the computer. And then one of two things usually happens.
1) I write one page. Though not the best outcome, it’s a good one. After all, it’s one page that I didn’t have, and one page that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t made myself write. But more often this happens:
2) I write one page and then keep going. As I work, I get over whatever unmotivated, cranky feelings were keeping me from writing. I get into whatever I’m working on—I think up a cool line, or get involved in the scene more deeply than I had thought I would. And so I keep going, and actually end up putting in something close to my normal writing time.
The weird thing is, I’ve done this enough that I know I’m tricking myself. I sort of think that Cranky Me should know better than to fall for that “one page” line. But I also think it’s partially that I’ve given myself an out, the knowledge that I could quit after one page without feeling guilty, that keeps me going. I don’t feel pressured to write when I don’t feel like it, and that frees me up to actually begin to feel like it.
What do you do to get yourself writing when you don’t want to?
No comments have been added yet.
