How To Stop Procrastinating When Writing A Book

Writers are known for dragging their feet when it comes to writing. Finding motivation to write can be hard with so many other distractions around. Writers excel at working inside their heads but leaving the page blank. For many writers, procrastination is their middle name. Here, are five tips on how to stop procrastinating when writing a book.

1. Outlining

Outlining your story gives you structure, gives you somewhere to go and stops you from being stuck. You may still be hit with writers’ block but you can keep moving forward with an outline. An outline is a summary of your story structure. Finding motivation to keep writing is easier if you always know where to go.

2. Keep Focused

If you are the kind of writer who tends to work on a few projects at the same time, a good way to beat procrastination when writing a book is to reduce your WIPs to two. Creating a story from scratch is demanding but when you want to write more than one, something has got to give. With more than one project it’s easy to lose motivation and feel overwhelmed. Try to reduce your number of WIPs so you can allocate time and focus to your main project.

3. Make A Routine To Beat Procrastination

Lucky of those writers who can live off of writing alone. Most of us have to work day jobs and write in your spare time. With so many other obligations piling up it’s easy to keep leaving writing to the bottom of the list. The truth is if you don’t make a habit of writing every day, if you don’t ingrain it in your daily routine, it’s easy to forget about it and then, of course, it’s harder to get back to it.

You must create a habit out of writing. If time is sparse, try to allocate some time every day to write a certain number of words. Even if you feel like you aren’t writing anything decent and you are just making up words for the sake of word count, it’s important you teach your brain to make time for your writing. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit so it may be worth sticking with it. Just seeing your word count grow will motivate you.

4. Find A Quiet Place To Write

To keep focused, find a place with no distractions. If you are the kind of writer who tends to scroll through social media instead of writing, try to put your mobile phone away and turn off wifi on your computer. To beat procrastination when writing a book, it’s essential that you use whatever time you have to actually sit down and write some words and not let frivolous distractions get in the way. Even if you are the kind of writer who likes to work with music on, limit all the other distractions and potential interruptions.

5. Write. Write. Write.

It seems obvious but the best way to stop procrastinating is to actually write. The more you write, the more you will want to write and the easier it will be to get back to it. Writing, even if you feel uninspired will teach you discipline and focus so that you don’t miss the moments when you have your creative juices flowing. If finding motivation to write is a problem for you, you may want to make sure you are writing about something you know and love so that you always have something to say. A good first chapter often offers a solid base to start you off, make sure you get it right.

Finding The Motivation To Write

Developing your own strategies to beat procrastination may take some time. Each of us will have a particular set of things that will work but the most important thing is to keep motivated to write and find the discipline to write frequently. Only then will you watch your word count grow and your story develop from concept to book.