How to procrastinate productively

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 12:12PM
Brandon in Inspiration, Rachel Scheller, Writer's Digest, procrastination

Courtesy of Writer's Digest, ten ways you can help your book/play/screenplay/etc. that are not actually writing it:

1. Write a blog post. Reinforce your expertise while doing a little fun, informal writing.
2. Visit your online community. Take a five-minute coffee break with other writers on Facebook and Twitter. Let their good news, struggles, questions, and insights percolate through you; chime in here and there. Notice any seeds of new ideas, projects, or collaborations taking shape in your peripheral vision.
3. Make order. Sort and purge your in-box. Vacuum or do dishes or fold laundry. You can improve beauty and order around you while resetting whatever brain pretzel you may be locked in.
4. Stand up and stretch. It’s far easier to keep butt-in-chair if blood is flowing to it!
5. Do your due diligence. Enter your business expense data into QuickBooks or pay bills.
6. Get prepared. Update your to-do list.
7. Empty your mind. A quick, three-minute meditation can settle your stirred waters so you can see clearly again.
8. Manage your contacts. Add business cards and other contact information you’ve collected recently into your contact database, sorting and categorizing appropriately by type of audience (students, colleagues, newsletter subscribers, etc.).
9. Share the wealth. Visit a few favorite blogs or websites and tweet about your findings.
10. Call your mother. (But don’t open the mail while you talk; she won’t like that.)

Read the rest of the article here!

Attentive readers will note that I have just now accomplished points 1 and 9. My procrastination, you see, is doubly productive.

Article originally appeared on The Unwritten Word (http://www.unwrittenword.com/).