Having one of those days?  You have to write, you have targets to meet but everything that comes out is just blah.. forcing it is like painting a fence in the rain.  But everything you know and have been told about writing is running on train carriages through your head:

‘you can’t edit a blank page‘

‘ writing is hard work‘

‘ it is better to write a 1000 bad words than nothing at all‘

and so on…..

The Cambridge dictionary defines Procrastination as: “The act of delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring.”

I am not bored, I am willing to work hard but sometimes my brain feels fried, my writing bucket is empty and I have to leave it alone for a minute and find something else to do. I resist, I have my work cut out for my, a schedule on the board and a self imposed deadline.

I have written my 1000 words of crap today and I am done.  I am not waiting for the muse, I am waiting for the kettle to boil.  I have also done my ‘pages’. My crap is written for the day.  I have tried editing my WIP, but there is a glitch in the story that I am not up to fixing today so I have set about finding things I can do to avoid writing today:

1.  Clean the oven – this is an old favourite of mine.  I can highly recommend Selley’s oven cleaner it is cheap, very toxic and quick to get your bake-house shining.
2. Walk the dog.
3. Take pictures of the dog and post her photos on Instagram.
4. Clean your desk, take care of those niggly little things that you promised to get to later: school notes, bill payments, hotel bookings, twitter.
5. Clean out your drawers – all of them.  Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, office, kids rooms…
6. Weed the garden.
7. Plant a new garden, will involve a trip to the nursery so research plants and make a list.  May need ice-cream.
8. Buy some books.  About anything, but maybe at least one about writing.
9. • I see an opportunity here to re-arrange bookshelf to accommodate new books, maybe should wait until they are delivered?  or not?
10. Sign up for an online course, about anything. Could be about writing though, it all helps?
11. Plan an elaborate dinner even though no one will be home to enjoy it because it is a karate night and you will all  be eating subway for tea.
12. Read something.
13. Watch something.
14. Listen to something, a podcast, an audible book?
15. Take the dog for another walk if she comes out of hiding.
16. Make dog an appointment to see the vet for a check up due to her hiding from walkies.
17. Still have to check Facebook!  lets see what all our wonderful ‘friends‘ are achieving with their clever, ‘I am so good I am a writer skills!’
18. Pluck your eyebrows while telling yourself that you are a good writer, you are just having a bad day.
19. Put on something lovely but comfortable and take yourself out for lunch.  Pull out the note book you keep in your bag, that pen you got for your birthday, order your favourite meal, and breath while flicking through one of their old magazines,  it will give you something to focus on while you eavesdrop on the couple at the next table.
20. Write up a new schedule for getting work done.  Laminate it.  Everything looks better when laminated.
21. Take a nap.
22. Read a blog?