In this series, I ask three authors one question. Today's topic is: What's your top tip to stop procrastination and finish your book. Before we get started, let me introduce you the participating authors (alphabetical by first name).
A.J. Flowers is a USA Today Bestselling fantasy author as well as an automotive engineer who resides in Detroit. She loves her writing, her work, and above all, her faith and family. When not writing, narrating, or designing, you can find her saving the world from annihilation on her favorite video games side-by-side with her Dutch husband and princess Blue Russian kitty named Mina. To follow AJ's blog, visit aj-flowers.com.
Emerald Dodge is USA Today bestselling author who lives with her husband and two sons. She enjoys studying esthetics and plans to obtain an esthetician license at a future date. Emerald and her husband enjoy playing with their children, date nights, hosting dinner parties for their friends, and watching movies. They are a Navy family and look forward to traveling around the nation and meeting new people.
Liz Delton writes and lives in New England, with her husband and amazing son. She studied Theater Management at the University of the Arts in Philly, always having enjoyed the backstage life of storytelling. She loves reading and writing fantasy, especially the kind with alternate worlds. Liz is the author of the Arcera Trilogy, and the Realm of Camellia series. World-building is her favorite part of writing, and she is always dreaming up new fantastic places. She loves drinking tea and traveling. When she's not writing you can find her hands full with one of her many craft projects. Visit her website at lizdelton.com
Here's what they had to say about procrastination, and how to stop doing it for good.
AJ Flowers: Get off Facebook! I use a blocker to limit all my social media during my writing time. It's not that I will pop over to Facebook because I'm procrastinating, but rather when we encounter something difficult or something that makes us uncomfortable, our first reaction is to steer away from it, so opening a Facebook window is a natural response when a scene is difficult to write, or something stressful is happening to the character (which is always). So that's my productivity tip, not to just get off Facebook, but to understand why you're doing it and not be too hard on yourself.
Emerald Dodge: Focus on time spent writing per day, not the word count. Decide that you'll spend twenty minutes a day writing. Make it a habit and stick to it. Writing is as much discipline as art.
Liz Delton: The method that works best for me is carving out a particular time of day to write—the same time every day if I can. If I get into a habit, it’s easy to just sit down and let the words flow. I used to write every day at work on my lunch break, and I would bring my Chromebook to work with me. Nowadays, I write in the mornings before I start my day. If I don’t make a habit of it, I’ll find other ways of procrastinating, even if it’s getting other writing-related work done--the writing still needs to get done!
There you have it! Now get writing!
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