10 excuses I’ve used to avoid writing:
After nearly 6 years, I’ve finally managed to complete the screenplay I thought I’d never finish. The lack of updates over the last two months is a direct result of me concentrating my efforts on my script, but at long last it is finished!
With that said, ONTO THE NEXT ONE!
As I reflect on the reasons why it has taken me this long to complete my screenplay the thought donned on me. I have used the very excuses that I’ve been accusing others of making.
Here is the list of my worst habitual avoidance tactics:
1) “I don’t have any time right now”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Writers MAKE the time for their craft. If you find you can’t do that, then perhaps you should reconsider your profession. Just make the time and write.
2) “I don’t have any nice paper or pens write with, maybe I’ll drive to the store to buy some.”
I’ve literally spent many afternoons commuting into the city to buy some ‘premium’ paper, and ‘premium’ pens, only to waste large sums of money and time. Write on toilet paper if you have to. Just write.
3) “I don’t have a laptop to type with. Handwriting is so slow.”
This is such a piss-poor excuse, but I’ve used it a few times. Although the addition of my laptop has been an exceptional tool for my trade, I didn’t need one in order to write. If I had spent all the hours writing, instead of pining over having to ‘type’ on the old computer at home, I’d have finished several novels. Don’t be a nancy. Many great and famous writers dealt without having a top knotch computer in their possession. Just write.
4) “It’s too loud and distracting in my house. I can’t get any writing done being there.”
Then leave. Go for a walk. Call a friend or relative for a ride if you don’t have a car. Use the bus. Just get out of the house, and stop complaining. Just write.
5) “The power went out so I couldn’t type anything”
Poe, Aristotle, Abraham Lincoln, and Shakespeare wrote masterpeices with nothing but a feather. Don’t be an idiot. Writing by candlelight is one of the most gratifying experiences ever. Just write anyway.
6) “I can’t write. There’s too much going on, and I have enough stress to deal with in my life.”
Anne Frank managed to write in her diary during the freaking holocaust, and still managed to get an entire book’s worth of material before being murdered. Stop being a primadonna. Just write.
7) “I can’t afford to write. I have to work a full time job, and support my family.”
So did J.K. Rowling before inevidably quitting, and trusting in her craft. She didn’t have a pot to piss in before Bloomsberry finally picked up her first novel about a boy wizard. Find the time. Trust in your dreams, and write.
8) “Everything I write is crap anyway. So there’s no point.”
Some of the best writers deal with self doubt. Writing is rewriting. Find a way to push yourself, and keep going. If you don’t like what you’re writing, write until you do. Just write.
9) “I tried and failed. Nobody wants my book/screenplay. So why bother?”
Author Rex Pickett received over 70+ rejection letters for his work before his novel Sideways published. In 2004, Alexander Payne would win the oscar for best-adapted screenplay of Pickett’s Sideways. Pickett’s success would not have come had he given up on his craft. This is an important lesson for all writers. Learn from your rejections. Just keep writing.
10) “I don’t have anything unique to say.”
Everyone has at least one good story in them. Speak from the heart, and write what you enjoy.
I leave you now with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors.
“I would like to be remembered as someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.” – J.K. Rowling
Hey Writers, What’s Stopping You?
I always love this argument, because so many writers I know make excuses as to why they cannot write or have no time to write. The fact of the matter is, very seldom is it impossible to write.
I really love Stephen King’s autobiographical memoir on the craft of writing, appropriately titled On Writing. The last half of the book is written after Mr. King suffered a nearly fatal accident while out for a walk. A man who was drunk hit King with his car, sending King into the ditch in a twisted mess. Even through the excruciating rehab, and long days spent in pain, Stephen King kept on writing. For him, there was nothing else.
George Orwell while in his hospital deathbed, insisted on having his typewriter brought to his room, so that he might type away his dying days.
“I don’t have the time” is a terrible excuse. If you want to take yourself seriously as a writer, you have to know that writers MAKE the time. There will always be laundry, chores, socializing, jobs, and obligatory events you’ll need to attend. Single mothers find the time to write. Why can’t you?
Unfortunately, I know exactly what it feels like ‘having no time’ to write. When I first started writing, I thought it would be a walk in the park. I underestimated the process and took it for granted. I thought writers just hammered out magic, and that was it. I didn’t understand that writing is about re-writing. I didn’t understand that I’d have to fight with friends and relatives for time to write.
The biggest lesson any writer must learn, is that you must set aside time for yourself to write. I don’t have the luxury of being a millionaire with endless time and expenses at my disposal. Writing is not a ‘sometimes’ hobby for me. If you don’t think you can commit to waking up early, going to bed late, setting aside one or two days a week, or making yourself off-limits before 12:00 noon, maybe you need to reconsider what’s actually stopping you.
If you asked famed scientist Stephen Hawking what’s stopping him, victim of the paralyzing disease (ALS), he would laugh at you with his DECtalk speech-synthesizer.
