Purple Hearts

Often, we procrastinate in sneaky ways.  Allow me to explain. 

Who hasn’t said these words at some point: “It isn’t really procrastination because. . .” 

Here are some of my favorite ways to enable my own it-isn’t-really-procrastination procrastination: 

Reading. I love to read. Love Love Love Love Love – ok, you get the idea.  I’ll read just about anything.  Things I’m not even enjoying I’ll finish (I’m trying not to do that unless it’s something I can learn from and am just fighting against it.)  But reading makes me a better writer. Right? 

Playing with my resources. You’ll notice if you go under the ‘Bria’ tab, there’s a link to my resources page.  Each week I post one more place I do some learning or get some ideas. This week’s resource has been instrumental in my self-editing attempts: Stephanie Bond’s ‘Writer’s Page’ has great articles, including her ‘Self Editing Checklist Series’ – definitely check it out – there’s an article tied to every “checkbox” to help you look at them in the right way:

http://www.stephaniebond.com/writers’_articles.htm  

Romance Diva’s is a fabulous website with fun people, great topics and useful information.  Unfortunately, because it’s a writer’s forum, I can convince myself that I’m working on my craft. For example, they have a fun game where someone gives you an absurd prompt and you, quick like a bunny, have to write a scene with your hero & heroine around it (check out my first one here – look at me being brave posting this silliness). When the fun has gone on long enough, I drift over to the chat area where I (thankfully) get my butt kicked in a 20 minute challenge and start my writing moving.

 http://www.romancedivas.com/    
If you aren’t a member, look into it this week.  They’re doing a special free, online ‘I’m not going to RWA Nationals’ conference.

While these procrastinations are helpful, and a girl’s gotta learn somehow, sometimes, as a writer, you need to know when to turn off the resources and turn on the writing.   

So, as usual, Go Write. 

-bria