What I do to force myself to write every day is: I set the alarm clock with the goal of getting up, I do my morning routine as if I were leaving the house, and then I sit at my desk in front of the computer.
(I’m on vacation from university so I can afford to do this.)
Some days this really works and the words come out like a bowl of alphabet soup. There are even days when my fingers hurt from typing and using that annoying laptop mouse.
But there are also the other days.
I even had a day where I couldn’t stop staring at the blank Word document and the thought came to my mind that all writers probably go through the same thing, even though it’s considered work for them. Because they’re professionals!
And this thought crossed my mind: Writing is the only job where you can sit all day, staring at a blank page on your computer, and still call it work. (Sounds better in English, doesn’t it?)
The problem is that if we try to force creativity to come out, it can end up being counterproductive.
Practically all writers agree that we should at least try to write every day – I’ve been searching and searching for where I read an article related to this, but I can’t find it.
One of these articles even said to set the alarm for an hour from now and then start writing. If when the alarm goes off, you still don’t feel like writing, then you can stop because you’re just not feeling it that day. Come back tomorrow!
Another option could even be to start the washing machine, and if after it finishes, you really feel like doing the laundry, be my guest.
But hey, if you have better ideas on how to face laziness, believe me, I’m all ears.
PATRICIA MORAIS
I write bilingual (PT and EN) supernatural fantasy books inspired by mythology and folklore from around the world. But my actual mission is to help other writers write, publish and market their books.
