Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

Killing Procrastination

For my next chapter I'm going to help you deal with something else many writers struggle with: procrastination. Now, I'll admit to being a top-notch procrastinator but when it comes down to it, I know how to force myself to write. I'm going to provide you with some tips for killing procrastination, but keep in mind that not all of them will work for you. In fact, I don't even use some of these tips myself. However, from what I have heard, they are quite effective for many people. 

Tip #1:

Sometimes even writers that truly enjoy writing just don't have the motivation to do it. Instead, they would rather sit on the couch and watch Netflix while chowing down on a bag of chips. Sound familiar? In your answer was "yes" than I have a tip for you. "Grey's Anatomy" will still be there when you return from writing, but if you keep putting off your story forever, the inspiration will disappear. Write your chapter first and once it's done, then you can watch your show. 

Write first, then take your prize. It really doesn't matter what the reward is, but if you have one, there will be more in it for both you and your readers. Make sure you stay disciplined and don't allow yourself to have what you want until the work is done.

Tip #2:

Create a writing schedule. Make a promise to yourself that you will update every Monday or Sunday or every other Sunday or second day. It really doesn't matter. Make a schedule that works for you. If you think updating three times a week is too often, tone it down a little. If you have a lot of time on your hands, take that into consideration. It's always a good idea to let your followers know what days you update. That way they will bother you less. Admittedly, I am very guilty of being an unpredictable updater. Oops.

With a writing schedule, you'll have a deadline that you need to make. Don't slack off. Make that deadline! If you're busy, make the schedule less frequent, like every two weeks. That should give you sufficient time to make your story great. However, I do not suggest you update every day. Not only is it stressful (because if you missed a day it would be simply catastrophic) but it would make the quality of your chapters less great because you'll spend less time perfecting them. Amazing chapters that are only uploaded every month are better than poor-quality writing you post every day. 

Now, before someone calls me a hypocrite because I have been updating this story every day for the past month, I'll explain why this story is different. Let's be real here, I don't need to really worry about the quality of this book. Of course, the tips should be good, but I don't have to work on character development, plot twists, writing good descriptions or anything else. Most of these tips have been sitting around in my head for months and all I have to do is type some up every day. When you are writing fiction, it's a whole different story. More time and effort must be put into it. Believe me, even if your popularity is going up, your stats won't suffer dramatically if you miss a day or two of writing. 

Tip #3: 

If you've done both those things, you might want to consider treating for Writer's Block. Maybe the reason you are procrastinating is because you just don't know what to write. This is actually the source of probably half the cases regarding procrastination. I won't elaborate too much on this because I have a chapter posted on how you can deal with Writer's Block. If you think that's your issue, go take a look!

Tip #4:

You should always set writing goals for yourself. This tip goes hand in hand with creating a writing schedule. Your goal may be to upload a chapter once a week, but maybe it's bigger than that. Maybe you want to finish your story by the end of the year. Act on that! Or perhaps you just got on the hot list for the very first time. Even if you're near the bottom of the list, that might be enough motivation for your to push the procrastinator in you aside. Interesting fact, I used to only update this book every month or so but one day I got on the hot list and I decided to step it up. This story had been on the hot list before, but it always started dropping in popularity after awhile. Now my book has reached up to number six on the hot list and it's all because I started updating more frequently. 

Tip #5:

Enter writing competitions if that's what it will take to get you working on your story. This is definitely a tip that won't work for everyone but some of you might want to try it. After all, it's much better to try something versus nothing.

Tip #6:

This isn't so much of a tip, but a warning. You might be feeling pretty proud of yourself for uploading your chapters more frequently but make sure you realize that rushing is far from productive. If you write absolute crap, that's even worse than posting a chapter every two months. Never rush, even if you are eager to finish writing. Always take your time and put your heart into writing. If you feel like you can't do that, consider giving yourself more time in between updates in your writing schedule. There are always ways for you to accommodate your other wants and needs without having to write all the time. 

That's all! Thanks so much for reading! This book is rapidly coming to a close.