Bad Advice Wednesday: Don’t Wait Till the Last Minute Like Me!
categories: Bad Advice / Cocktail Hour
6 comments
It’s still Wednesday, by nine minutes. I just want to say: don’t wait. Not only don’t wait till the last minute like me, but don’t wait. So many times an acquaintance with a great book idea or story to tell will describe it and then say: Can’t wait to get started. What they mean by that is: I’m waiting to get started. Till I have some time off. Till the kids are grown. Till I’m done with grad school. Till, till, till, till, till.
But honestly, that’s not how it’s done. How it’s done is by doing, in whatever increments of time present themselves. Because that ideal time just never comes.
Today, I had NO TIME for Bad Advice. And yet here I am, nipping minutes.
A variation on the theme is the writer who’s doing research. Research. Research. Research. That’s the clock ticking again.
Okay, I’ve got six minutes.
After you read this, if you’ve got some great idea that’s not getting done, take twenty minutes or five or even just one and start writing it. Then, when you can, take another minute and continue. Watch your mind start working the real problems of the story. Which are never, Where’m I gonna get the time?
Okay, four minutes left. I’d better proofread and add tags and find an image and call it a post!
11:59!
Must hit publish!
follow Bill on twitter! Good stuff! @billroorbach
This reminds me of one of the best pieces of advice I ever heard:
Let’s face it, you’re either serious about what you’re doing or you’re not serious about what you’re doing. And you can’t mix the two. And life is short.
– Bob Dylan
Tangled up in blue!
Add another word or two before bed, Janine!
300 words now, but I still don’t know where I’m going.
You don’t need to know! Just go. Like walking on a trail. You may not know the way, but the path is definitely there, and it must go somewhere…
OK, Ok, ok. Just worked on something I started a while ago. Still only 200 words but that’s longer than it was before.