First 500

I'm a procrastinator. In fact, if they gave awards for procrastination, I've have at least one of each award. But I've decided to tackle this issue in order to get more writing done. So, I decided to put myself on an internet diet. No internet until the "First 500" are written.

I started this on Monday of last week and I have to say, it's worked quite well. I've managed to get over 500 words each day, two days I got close to 1,000 and one day I got over 1,300. And only one day were the words so bad I deleted them later. Even though they were dreck, they did give me some ideas and got me started on the right direction. So, when I wrote the new scene the next day, it was very nice.

I did take the weekend off and spend it doing stuff with family and of course, church on Sunday but I did do a bit of planning so I'd have a starting point this week.

This week, I'm aiming for 1,000 words each morning before going to the internet. Seems doable and I seriously need to make progress on this novel. May will be here before long and I have to be ready.

I've also decided to focus solely on novel. No more prompts for fun. I won't promise no more short stories since when the plot bunny drops off an idea, you don't want to insult them by being ungrateful but I'm going to try to stay on track.

And so…if you need to get things written, try the "First 500" idea. Put your writing before whatever it is that distracts you and get those words on paper. Believe me, it's worth it and gets easier each day.

Procrastination

Today has been one of those days. Not sure why but I've started this blog post four times now, each time with a different subject. And, it's taken me only 2 1/2 hours to get this far.

I've read a couple other blogs, caught up in a discussion group, chatted with my mom by instant message, google chatted with another writer and even made a few notes on another idea for a story.

One of the things most writers have in common is procrastination. So, help a fellow writer out and share your cure for procrastination.

Me, I'm going to turn off Instant Message, set my status as busy at google chat and apply the BIC method. Hopefully, I'll make some progress.