Shut up and write! (Or whatever it is you do.)

I am a compendium of excuses.

I have an excuse for everything, sometimes even two or three, and when it comes to things I have to do, being a self-employed writer/seamstress mucking about waiting to finish college, I have a list of excuses longer than James Joyce's Ulysses, especially since I always have "another day" to push it back to.

And yet, here I am one month into a story and only 3,000 words in. Which, going back to James Joyce, might not be bad for a certain Irish author, but is right terrible for someone with an excess of time, a room of quiet, and no substance abuse problem to speak of. (Which, granted, might be the problem.)

But for those of us with no desire to pick up the bottle and replicate the lives of the authors of yore, we have to figure out how to make time (and keep time!) in a world where the Internet, cell phones, television, and shopping sales are all calling out our names.

For me, the wake up call came from trying a thousand things other people suggested, discovering none of them worked, and adapting them to work for me.

"Write 4,000 words a day, and don't stop until you do!"

Various authors have cried this out to me as a muddle through the rough draft of a short story. "Two pages!" "Four hours!" "Just opening a Word document counts!" All of which are good and well (except for the last suggestion), but were not good for me.

As much as I wish I could sit down and pound out 2,000/3,000/4,000 words a day, I cannot. I am simply not used to sitting still that long. Furthermore, I'm not used to sitting down for more than an hour at a time. During long classes in college I lived for the five minute lecture breaks where I could stretch my legs, and being a seamstress means I'm rarely sitting for too long, even as I'm sewing: there are always things to cut, dresses to try on, and patterns to wrangle.


So, I switched things up. I can sit for an hour. I can also turn off my Internet connection, hide the clock on my laptop (it involves a pink post-it note and being grateful they keep the clock on the corner of the toolbar), and leave my cell phone alone unless someone calls me. I can also use my newly-hidden time to set a timer for one hour without knowing when I started, and shove that under a pillow or two where I can't see it. At this point, it's just me and my open document, and nothing else. I can sit and write and not be distracted, and not think of how much longer there is to go. Truly, clocks are the bane of the productive. And maybe that's a lot to do just to get things done, but it's what I need to do.

So what about you?

Whether you're writing the next Great American Novel, trying to finish knitting a scarf, or simply trying to settling down to read a book, it can be hard to make your concentrate in a world of distractions, and frustrating when everyone else's tips don't work for you. But, luckily, there are things you can do.

For me, the most important thing is figuring out what was my biggest time sink: checking the time, the Internet, and my constant need to check my word count. Then I eliminated it, even if it meant having to gauge my productivity in a different way (no more word counts for me!)

The next thing you need to do is stick to it! No more excuses, and no more ways out. What seems like a droll chore will eventually be a welcome quiet time without distraction. Although there are still days where I dread sitting down and writing, I do value the time I have where I can settle down by myself. Much like exercising, or waking up at the same time every morning it's a routine you need to force yourself to get into.

Write it down!

As a runner, one of the best pieces of advice I heard for beginning runners was to write down on a calendar whenever you went running. When you see the runs you missed, you'll realize you need to go out and run, and when you see the runs you did, you'll feel proud and realize what you've working toward.

Since it can be impossibly hard to shut up and write (or sew or run or study), once you figure out what seems to work for you, keep track of when you do it! Sometimes, nothing is more inspiring than your own successes (or failures), and something as simple as noting on a calendar when you achieve your daily goals (however small or large) can be the best encouragement you can get!

So, what are you waiting for? Shut up and write!