How to Overcome Procrastination by Sherrinda Ketchersid

I am the world’s worst procrastinator. Seriously, I am. I’ve been procrastinating writing this post by taking the dog out (again), cleaning the kitchen (what?!), and checking my email (for the 100th time today). Can anyone relate?

Procrastination is really just a form of fear.

We fear that our work will not be good enough. We fear that we will be exposed as an “imposter” posing as a writer who knows what she is doing. But if we are honest with ourselves, we would realize we are hardest on ourselves—our own worst critic. I know this is true for me.

Sometimes fear stems from not knowing what to write about. I struggle with this when I’m trying to think of something to blog about. I wonder what I have to say that would be of interest to others. I suppose that is another example of the “imposter syndrome”, but not knowing what to write about can be paralyzing.

How do famous authors combat procrastination? Check out these authors and what they do to get themselves writing:

• Victor Hugo – His procrastination got so bad he stripped and made his servant hide his clothes. This forced him to stay at home and focus on writing.
• Haruki Murakami – He swims 1500 meters every morning to wear out his nervous energy so he can focus on his work.
• Douglas Adams – His procrastination was so bad a friend stayed with him to keep him writing.
• William Gibson – He incorporated naps into his routine so that when he awoke, he would be fresh and ready to write.
• Maya Angelou – She would go to a hotel and have all distractions and stimuli removed from the room so she could focus.
• Friedrich Schiller – He let apples rot in his desk drawer, saying he couldn’t write without the stench.

What can we learn from these authors who found a way to deal with procrastination?

• Do something to get your mind and body able to focus. Whether it is exercising or napping, do what allows your mind to clear and attend to the task at hand.
• Find an accountability partner. I know this helps me when I am under the gun to get a writing project finished. Having to tell someone at the end of the day how much I accomplished is a huge motivator for me.
• Find a new place to write. I know many writers who leave their house to write in a coffee shop, restaurant, or library. This gets them away from the mountain of chores and responsibilities at home.
• Instigate a ritual to signal writing time. For me, I like to light a good smelling candle and have a cup of coffee by my side. This signals my brain to get started and most of the time it works, though if it is a rainy day, I just want to read instead of write.

As a Christian writer, I have found that when I go to God with my procrastination—my fear of not being good enough or not being inspired—He manages to ease the way for me. He has given us the gift of words and we need to fan that gift into flame. As 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

Don’t be timid. Do not be afraid. Don’t let procrastination rule your life. Just write from the heart. Write as you are led. Your words on the page will not be perfect the first go-around, but at least there will be words to work with and polish.

What do you do to combat procrastination? What writing quirks or rituals help you begin writing for the day?

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Lord of Her Heart

He’s fighting for his future—she’s running for her life.

Lady Jocelyn Ashburne suspects something is amiss at her family’s castle because her father ceases to write to her. When she overhears a plot to force her into vows—either to the church or a husband—she disguises herself and flees the convent in desperation to discover the truth.

Malcolm Castillon of Berkham is determined to win the next tournament and be granted a manor of his own. After years of proving his worth on the jousting field, he yearns for a life of peace. Rescuing a scrawny lad who turns out to be a beautiful woman is not what he bargained for. Still, he cannot deny that she stirs his heart like no other, in spite
of her conniving ways.

Chaos, deception, and treachery threaten their goals, but both are
determined to succeed. Learning to trust each other might be the only
way either of them survives.

Sherrinda Ketchersid is a lover of stories with happily-ever-after endings. Whether set in the past or present, romance is what she writes and where her dreams reside. Sherrinda lives in north-central Texas with her preacher husband. With four grown children, three guys and a gal, she has more time and energy to spin tales of faith, fun, and forever love.

Connect with Sherrinda:
Website: www.sherrinda.com
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https://www.facebook.com/SherrindaKetchersidAuthor/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sherrinda
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https://www.instagram.com/sherrinda

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19022507.Sherrinda_Ketchersid

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sherrinda-ketchersid
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sherrinda-Ketchersid/e/B07Q5Y8QHF/

Less Is the New More by Stephanie Dees

I don’t know about you, but since the first of the year, I’ve been inundated with information about decluttering. Everyone in my facebook friends list seems to be talking about it. Netflix made a show about it. Even retailers are getting in on the action by sending emails and flyers about upgrading my storage. I had no idea my laundry basket needed a makeover!

I guess we’re all tempted to look at a new year as a fresh start. A new beginning. A new “us.” A slimmer, more organized and decluttered “us.” And that’s all well and good. It’s great to use the fresh clean pages of a brand new calendar to inspire us to do more and better things, but sometimes we get so caught up in the desire for a new us, we forget to appreciate who we already are. So, I have a few suggestions--four things we might want to consider decluttering this year. 

The first thing we need to kick to the curb is doubt. It’s normal to feel some trepidation when we send our work into the world, but doubt keeps us stuck where we are. If we’ve had rejection, doubt can make us wonder why we’re even bothering. It tells us us we can’t reach that goal we want to reach. But it’s important to realize that doubt is a liar, or as William Shakespeare said, a traitor, which makes “us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” So this year, let’s make it our goal to declutter doubt, and remember every step is a step in the right direction because we learn from all of them, even the ones which seemingly move us backward.

The next item for the discard pile is procrastination. Most writers deal with procrastination in some form or another. My theory is we’re afraid that today--whatever day today is--is the day when we’re going to finally run out of words to write. It’s a lot easier to watch videos on youTube about how to create a smokey eye (No? Just me?) than it is to stare at a blank page with a flashing cursor. Don’t get me wrong--it’s fun to watch videos and play on social media, but if we’re procrastinating to keep from feeling insecure about what we’re actually supposed to be working on, it’s time for them to go. And now that I think about it, getting rid of procrastination will be a lot easier now that we’ve decluttered doubt from our lives!

The third thing we need to declutter this year is fear. Now fear isn’t always a bad thing. It’s the thing that keeps us from walking off a ledge or committed to wearing our seatbelts. The danger with fear is we can become so risk-averse that we stop taking chances and let fear become the boss. 

When I was a little girl, my grandmother owned a restaurant. I remember her telling me one time that the way to carry a full cup of coffee without spilling it is not to focus on the coffee (and the fear of it sloshing over the side of the cup) but to look ahead to the table. As writers, we know our best, most exhilarating work happens when we stop playing it safe. Listening to the voice of fear holds us back, but not in a good way, and the way to get rid of it is to keep our eyes focused on the destination ahead.

Finally, this year, we need to let go of comparison. It’s so incredibly tempting to look around us at others on a similar path and find ourselves lacking. He got a contract. She got an agent. Her book got more reviews. His won more awards. We see all the amazing things people around us are accomplishing, but what we don’t see is the painful parts of other people’s lives--their doubts and fears and insecurities, the hours they spent procrastinating. We try to measure our struggle to their successes and that’s a sure way to feel like a failure, even if it’s the farthest thing from the truth.

So how do we ditch comparison once and for all? Remember that our path is our own and just because it’s different doesn’t mean we’re doing it wrong. Everyone struggles. Behind the highlight reel we see on social media of authors we admire is a messy life just like ours.

Okay. Now that we’ve decluttered some of the things that could hold us back in 2019, we’ve got some open space to work with and there’s one big question remaining. Now that the doubt and fear and insecurities are gone, how do we fill that space?

Well, with certainty.

The certainty that we are each a child of God. As we use the creativity He gave us, there’s no need to look left or right, no need to ever entertain doubt and fear again. 

We are fully known and fully loved by Him. 

And no external success can even come close to that.

So how about you? Have you been inundated with decluttering messages? Done some literal or figurative decluttering this year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

The Marriage Bargain

Jules Sheehan will do anything to keep custody of the two orphaned girls in her care-including a marriage of convenience with their uncle. Cam Quinn crosses the globe as a travel writer, but he's ready to settle down. Now tough, tender Jules is offering the home he's secretly longed for. Can this marriage in name only become a family of the heart?

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Award-winning author Stephanie Dees lives in small-town Alabama with her family, two spoiled dogs, and a very bossy cat. A Southern girl through and through, she loves sweet tea, SEC football, corn on the cob and air conditioning. Her latest book, The Marriage Bargain, is available now.
 

The Destructive Power of Procrastination by Terri Weldon

I originally wrote this post for Seekerville where I was a guest blogger, but procrastination is such a huge problem for so many I thought I'd share it here as well.

It’s time for a true confession – I’m a habitual procrastinator. I’ve battled the problem for years. 

Webster’s Dictionary defines procrastinate as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I could end the post here. Then ask all the procrastinators to think how putting things off affects your life. But if you’re anything like me you’d probably pull a Scarlett and say you’ll think about it another day. That would get us nowhere. 

Procrastination has had a detrimental effect on my writing life. I long to do things in a timely manner, yet it never seems to happen. So what are the negative or destructive powers of procrastination?

1. Missed Contest Opportunities. I’ve seen announcements for some great contests. Final round judges would be agents and editors I’d love to read my manuscript. Then I’d look at the deadline for entering. A month away, plenty of time to get my submission ready. So I’d close the email (big mistake) and forget all about it. It’s hard to land the perfect agent or editor when they never have an opportunity to read your work. My new plan of action when I see a contest I want to enter is going to be different. I’ll stop right then, prepare my entry, and send it off. Wow! I can’t even imagine what that will feel like. 

2. Slow Rolling Revisions. I did a little research on procrastination. It’s more than a time management issue. People tend to delay when they feel fear, dread, or are anxious about something that is important to them. Can anyone say revisions? If an editor asks you to revise a manuscript, deep inside you hope they’ll buy your book. There’s also fear of rejection. Fear could be the systemic issue stopping you from jumping on those revisions. After all, I think the editor expects to receive the revisions in a timely manner. My personal fear is the editor will turn me down for being tardy with my revisions. Whereas they’d ask a writer with a faster turnaround time to make additional revisions. Any opinions? I’d love your thoughts or experience with this? 

3. Lost Submission Opportunities. Pelican Book Group has an open call for Christmas stories every year. The submission are due by the end of May. Knowing the date should leave plenty of time throughout the year to write a Christmas novella. Yet as a habitual procrastinator I’m never ready. When you see a publishing opportunity such as a contest Love Inspired is running, do you have a polished manuscript ready to submit? Having a ready to submit manuscript is a must in this business. Anything less can cost you a chance to be published by your dream publisher. 

So far it seems like I’ve painted a pretty dismal picture. I apologize for that. Like so many weaknesses, procrastination is a lifelong battle. It can be overcome. Forgive yourself for being a procrastinator. Throw out the past and start with a clean slate. Then ignore your feelings and get started writing. Focus on the action you need to take. Progress will make you feel better. 

Last year I made a commitment to indie publish a Christmas novella. And I did! I didn’t have a clue how to indie publish anything. Fortunately, I have two friends who’ve had success indie publishing. I also had the unfailing support of my sister. So I focused on revising an existing novella. Once my revisions were complete, I had the manuscript edited and proofread. Then I asked another friend for recommendations on who to hire to create my cover. Thankfully my very talented friend volunteered. Didn’t she do an awesome job? I just hope my story is half as good as her cover! And on December 1, 2016 my novella, The Christmas Bride Wore Boots, went live. 

Did I do everything perfect? No, but I learned a ton. Most importantly, I met my self-imposed deadline. Let me tell you, that felt great. It renewed my confidence in my ability to write another book. I even decided to make this a three book novella series – The Berryhill Brides. Now I’m eager to write those novellas. 

Just remember the destructive power of procrastination can be overcome. You have it within you to break the cycle. For me, the key is in recognizing what drives my procrastination. Don’t let feelings of inadequacy stop you. I’m sure I’ll fail from time to time. That’s okay. I’ll choose to forgive myself, because then I’ll actually move forward instead of focusing on my mistake. Mark Twain has been quoted as saying, “If your job is to eat a frog, eat it first thing in the morning, and if your job is to eat two frogs, eat the big one first.”

Are you a procrastinator? If so, what helps you overcome the problem? If you aren’t a procrastinator, I hope you’ll share a few tips for meeting deadlines.

The Christmas Bride Wore Boots - Berryhill Brides Book One

Pastor Jacob Thompson is in need of a director for the living nativity program and veterinarian Molly Kincaid offers to take on the job. The task involves far more than Molly bargained for, nonetheless she’d do anything to help out the man she secretly loves – even sew costumes or cast eight-year-old Wesley Simpson as an angel.

Jacob’s daughter Emma longs to have a mommy of her own, but the widowed pastor has vowed to never remarry, and isn’t ready to open his heart to love again. Molly dreams of filling the void in both their lives, but fears she lacks the necessary qualities to be a pastor’s wife.

As Molly and Jacob work together on the living nativity, their feelings for one another grow. Will Molly realize she is just what Jacob and Emma need in their lives? Can Jacob be released from his grief stricken promise? Could this unlikely duo prove to be a match made in heaven?

Terri Weldon is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys gardening, reading, and shopping for shoes. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction. She lives with her family in Oklahoma. Terri has two adorable Westies – Crosby and Nolly Grace. Terri is a member of ACFW and OCFW, a local chapter of ACFW. Her dream of becoming a published novelist came true in November 2013 when Mistletoe Magic, released from White Rose Publishing.

Readers can connect with Terri: Website: www.TerriWeldon.com or

Blog: Seriously Write