Time-wasters. We all like to play, to do something other than housework, homework or work-work. In the case of a freelance writer, discipline is the key factor. Without discipline and striving to finish your writing projects, your writing will go slowly or the projects never get done.
Getting a room to yourself is the ideal location for your writing adventures. This will allow you to write almost any time of the day, unless, of course, your wee ones bang on your door for attention or whine what’s for breakfast or beg a shoe to be tied. Then it’s back to waking at the crack of dawn or plunging your thoughts down in the black of night, when your eyelids barely stay open. If you cannot use an extra room for your writing purposes, then write at a time when most of the noise or distractions are at a minimum.
One of the main problems to wasting time is keeping your desk or work area clean, void of extraneous mail or bills begging to get paid. Any distractions can keep you from the love between you and Muse writing together along the wings of time. Or, if there is no other place to keep your financial matters except at the desk where you write, set a time to dispense your payouts, such as twice a month when the paychecks pass through cyberspace to your bank’s URL, and two-minute daily walks through online debits and credits.
Place websites of your writing resources, freelance writing, dictionary and grammar on your desktop for quick reference and as a reminder of your goals. A bookcase of writing instruction, grammar books like the Chicago Manual of Style, MLA and APA, a thesaurus, current Writer’s Market, and books on English and American Literature are all good examples of a writer’s library. Feel free to add others to your library complementary to your own genres.
Another distraction I found was games. So many of us love computer games, but five minutes can spread to two precious hours, and your time allotted for writing has now disappeared. Because of my obsession with a particular game, I asked my husband to temporarily disable all of the games on my computer so that I would not be tempted to ride its plains at this time. I desire wholeheartedly to give this writing bug a try.
Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, IM messaging – these can all be purveyors of time-wasters. Sure, it is good to keep in contact with humanity, but this can also lead to an obsession. Limit your time with your friends so that you can get back to your passion. Announce to them your goal of writing a book or articles and your desire to finish these projects.
Everyone loves the television set. Who can tear themselves away from a gripping mystery, passionate romance, or creepy thriller? To prevent this all-known time-waster, the best deal to make is to leave it off until sunset or wait until the weekend and watch away to your heart’s desire.
We can find many kinds of ways to distract ourselves and waste time instead of fulfilling our life’s purpose. Don't hesitate any more. Now is the time to write!
