Twenty Things That Are Not Writing

Are you a writer? If you are, you may understand the funk I’m in. I’m a writer, except that sometimes, I don’t write. I do things related to writing, but they are not writing. They do not help the writing, in fact, they impede the writing. They are procrastination. They are self-imposed resistance. They are fun. But, sadly, not writing.

This list is intended to remind me of the things I need to stop doing in order to write. Hope it helps you. It might help me, if I can actually admit that even writing this post is a way of avoiding writing. I’m damned.

Things That Are Not Writing:

1. Checking the stats on my blog is not writing. Even if I do it fifty times a day and need to type in my username and password each time, that doesn’t count as writing. On any day.
2. Status updates on Facebook are not writing. Not even if I manage to make up 500 words doing several hundred status updates in a day. That, still, is not writing.
3. Reading other peoples Facebook status updates is not writing. Funny, annoying, even interesting, but not writing.
4. Twitter is not writing.
5. Visiting Gloria Jeans for a caramelatte is not writing. Neither is anything pertaining to toasted banana bread.
6. Ducking out to scour half a dozen op-shops is not writing. No, it is NOT.
7. Thinking about writing later isn’t writing.
8. Taking a long bath isn’t writing.
9. Reading a book isn’t writing.
10. Combining 7, 8 and 9 still isn’t writing.
11. Checking Donald Millers blog to see what he’s writing isn’t writing.
12. Checking other blogs to see if they have published my articles isn’t writing.
13. Googling myself isn’t writing.
14. Playing with my iPhone isn’t writing.
15. Checking my emails every single time one drops into my inbox is NOT writing, even if I reply.
16. Looking at courses at the local community college isn’t writing.
17. Trawling through job websites when I already have a job is not bloody writing. It’s just not.
18. Playing with my dreadlocks isn’t in any way, shape or form writing.
19. Eating snacks, drinking tea, rifling through the cupboard for more chocolate biscuits is not writing. get over that right now.
20. And finally, leaving obnoxious and inflammatory comments on other peoples blogs and websites is never, ever, ever writing.

Done procrastinating. Off to do the writing 🙂

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