There are days you wake up, and the last thing on your mind is to write. Even writers have lots of writing excuses about why they shouldn’t write. These excuses range from the believable to the unbelievable.
These writing excuses that writers make are very easy to create. But don’t forget that you have pending writing jobs. And you need to get them off your desk, no matter the excuses.
All writers give writing excuses from time to time. Here are some of the writing excuses that writers have been making. It is not just writers, but others like you and me.
Table of Contents
You Are Not Inspired To Write
We’ve all had this excuse at some point. I’m not inspired. While these excuses may seem to be valid, it could stand in the way of productive work.
If you always seem to have the energy for something other than writing, it is purely a writing excuse. You are struggling to bring yourself to write.
Tiredness could cause you to be unmotivated to write. When you are physically or mentally tired, it becomes nearly impossible to sit and write. The ideal thing here would be to take a break and rest.
However, you have to be mindful not to mistake all cases of lack of motivation as tiredness. They almost feel alike. So, it is possible to mistake one for the other.
You could feel uninspired to write because it seems like you are not making any headway with what you are writing. You are probably stuck on a page for so long, or it looks like you’ve not hit your writing goal.
Your writing goals may not be realistic enough. Rather than feeling discouraged, go back to the drawing board. Re-evaluate your writing goals. Tweak it to what would work for you.
It is also possible that your frustrations and lack of inspiration to write are because you are unhappy with your written work outcome. If you feel your work sucks, it can demoralize you. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
You could take a break from writing and return to look at your work with newer pairs of eyes. Ask the Who, Where, What, When, and How questions. That way, you will gain clarity on what you’re writing and how to get it on track.
It is easy to say that you don’t feel like writing today. Writing every day is not like a task that you have to tick off your to-do list. See it as something you love and enjoy doing. Start it off with the gratitude that you’ve got another chance to write.
When you see it as a mere task on your to-do list, it becomes to feel like a burden. Now, you know why the mindset is very critical if you must always look forward to writing. See writing daily as indulging in your passion.
Your Work Is Not So Good
You’ve probably told yourself that your writing is not so good as the famous writers you know. You read a friend’s work and feel depressed because it seems they write better than you do. Don’t do that!
The reality is that a lot of writers think that way about themselves. Not just your friends and the writers within your circles. The famous writers feel the same too. So, you are not alone.
Don’t let self-doubt stop you from creating unique content that others will learn from and enjoy. It is your calling. Always remind yourself that you are one of the best writers out there; the world is just yet to discover that.
You Don’t Have The Time
The common saying is that everyone has time; the only difference is their priorities. I understand that you have a day job or business to run. By the time you return home, you are already tired.
Not having time could be a good excuse not to write today. However, you can do something about that. Move from not having the time or trying to find the time. Instead, create time to write.
Everybody has 24 hours each day. Nobody is going to hand you extra hours to do the writing that you need to do. However, you can make out time from the existing hours that you have.
You could wake up earlier each day and dedicate about 30 minutes or an hour to write for the day. You could also stay up for 30 minutes or an hour before bedtime to write. You could use your lunchtime to write or write on your phone or tablet as you commute to work each day.
In any of these ways you choose to go about it, you are merely making out time to write. If writing is a priority to you, you will make out time for it. It is easier to fit it into your day when it is a fun priority for you.
You Have Writer’s Block
Writing can be unpredictable at times. On some days, ideas are flowing through your mind without restraint. On other days, you can’t come up with ideas to fill the pages of your book. You’re entirely dried up.
Writer’s block must not always be your story. What if you have a client waiting for your written content? What if there is a deadline to beat? Do you wait until whenever the writing juices decide to flow again? What can you do?
One way to get out of this dilemma is always to plan your writing. Use a mind map to think through the entire writing process. Outline everything your writing will contain and hit the ground running.
How To Stay Motivated To Write
Tips for writing daily
Now that you’ve learned how to deal with the writing excuses, start forming the habit of writing daily. To write daily, you need a target word count per day.
You are to hit the target each day and not break the chain. The more committed you are to this daily routine, the longer the chain becomes. That way, it becomes more difficult for you to break it. Otherwise, you will be starting over.
Start from the small writing goals and gradually gain momentum. Don’t burn out with big and impossible writing targets from day one. Develop the muscles to increase the word count along the way.
Writing at the same time every day makes it build into a routine. Your book becomes accustomed to doing it at that time every day. Utilize these writing sessions maximally to get the best results.
Nowadays, our attention span keeps getting shorter. It is either calls always coming through, messages and social media notifications beeping. Something else is still demanding our attention.
All these mean that we have to stay focused deliberately. Avoid all distractions. Resist the need to continually keep up with whatever is happening on your phone and social media.
Try not to edit and rewrite as you are writing. Set aside a separate time for it. Editing and rewriting can slow your pace. It could make you forget the next idea you were about to put down.
While writing daily, track your progress. Keep a record of your achievements each day. Know when you can take a break or need to continuing writing to beat the fixed deadline.
How Meditation Helps You To Write Better
The art of meditation is one aspect that writers often overlook. It is a fact that meditation has lots of health benefits. The question is, why are writers not maximizing its use?
When you get stuck while writing, meditation can help you focus more on the subject matter and open you up to more ideas, meditation helps to see new perspectives and make connections between existing ideas.
With meditation, your concentration level is higher. It will be easy to bury yourself in what you are writing and be oblivious of time. You won’t get easily distracted.
Dealing With Impostor Syndrome
A lot of writers feel like frauds. Somehow, you think that someday people will realize that you are not the great writer they thought you were. It’s a feeling that could come from having perfectionist tendencies.
Writers are the biggest critics of their works. Every person’s work is excellent, except theirs. Writers tend to be highly critical of their works. As a writer, how do you deal with this feeling of being an impostor in the writing space?
The best approach to this problem is to continually remind yourself that you are good at what you do and deserve to be in the writing space. Acknowledging that you are not the only person feeling this way will help you feel better about yourself.
Develop the right attitude towards failure and making mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you unworthy of the writing space. It only means that you are continually learning, growing, and becoming better.
Conclusion
As humans, making excuses comes to us naturally. It is even easier to make writing excuses to get yourself out of writing. Even writers also have lots of writing excuses. It is how we rationalize why we are not doing something. If you are always making these writing excuses, it’s time to watch it and focus on productivity.
