3 Writing Excuses You Want to Avoid for the New Year

Since we, as writers, seem to have as many excuses for not writing as say someone who doesn't want to clean out their kitchen cabinets, I thought it would be fair to say that writers avoid writing too. And what we avoid and why we avoid it says a lot about us as a person, both on and off the job.

Photo by: Amy Loves Yah, courtesy of Flickr

Let's start with procrastination. It's easy to procrastinate something that may not be bringing in a regular paycheck. Unlike a regular job with a regular paycheck, our writing becomes a hobby where we get to it when we have the time. (See excuse #3).What is foremost in our mind is the job that pays us money.


Photo by Wonderlane, courtesy of Flickr

I'm not good enough anyway. Part of being a writer is getting critiques of what we do. These critiques come from the world, yes, but our hardest and biggest critic is ourselves. We just don't see ourselves as selling a book; getting anyone to buy it. We see our writing as less than. We have a hard time seeing ourselves as a success.




Photo by: NCinDC, courtesy of Flickr

I don't have the time. Really, I don't. But maybe we have time to watch our favorite show on television. Television eats up time. I know. I watch television too. I have my favorite shows and I often lounge in front of the television at night because I need some time just to veg. Take a look at your time. If you want to be a writer you'll make time to write.

I want you to know that I've used all of these three excuses at one time or another, and sometimes I have used them in concert. Why should I make the time to write when I'm not good enough anyway. I'll do it later.

Later rarely comes unless we plan to use our time wisely. And when we get those criticisms from ourselves and from others, we need to realize what's happening and take a giant leap in the direction of our computer.