Saturday, April 5, 2014

The Business of Writing: Excuses


At a normal kind of job at work, you wouldn't make excuses for not doing your job. You might - people do - but it doesn't exonerate you from getting the work done. 

As writers, if we consider this to be our work, we shouldn't accept excuses from ourselves.  We should set reasonable plans and expectations given the number of hours we have to work.  And we should hold ourselves accountable.  (Yes, this is a pep talk to myself.)

8 comments:

  1. No excuses - just get it done.
    I now have Alice in Chains' No Excuses playing in my head. Don't worry, that's a good thing.

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  2. Great advice! I tell myself this all the time. If you aren't thinking of your writing as a job and business, you'll never get to the other side. Great post!! rsmccoy.blogspot.com

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  3. Excuses sometimes hides the brewing process. We aren't sure where the story is going, or something needs to be mulled over. But, if you are just avoiding the writing, there may be a reason. Get fresh air, or try writing something else. I write scenes when narrative doesn't want to play.

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  4. I have a tendency to put other things first (kids, laundry, NCIS, etc.). Today is my writing morning. I met my critique partner to write for three hours - but the restaurant was too loud. I could let that be my excuse to not accomplish what I set out to do today - revising those three chapters. But I've decided to put my writing first and work on it until it's done. I will pop back into A to Z when I'm finished - might be right around midnight at the rate I'm going.

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  5. I completely agree, if you want to do something, you will do it. Nice to connect and follow on http://aimingforapublishingdeal.blogspot.co.uk/

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  6. I am the Queen of excuses at the moment. This was a good pep talk for me too.

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  7. This is a pep talk for me, too, Tonja! Thanks for the little slap of sense. I've been riding the excuse train a bit too much lately!

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  8. Applicable to every life situation! Thanks for the reminder.

    Michelle @ In Media Res

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