Meg Dowell Writes

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12 Writing Productivity Mistakes You Had No Idea You Were Making

1. Not setting a designated time/place/day to write.

2. Not giving yourself an end goal for every writing session.

3. Not even trying to write something.

4. Waiting until you find the perfect app/gadget/writing space.

5. Waiting for a better idea to come along.

6. Waiting until “everything settles down.”

7. Waiting … just waiting.

8. Deciding what you’re going to write after you sit down to start writing.

9. Turning to social media for inspiration.

10. Using “I can’t write about this, it’s too ___” as an excuse.

11. Saying “I’ll do it tomorrow when I’m feeling refreshed” … again.

12. Reading random people’s blogs for inspiration instead of writing. :)

Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.

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Responses

Angela Archer

Sep 29, 2018

All of these are a little too familiar to me! Guilty as charged!

Reply
1. Meg Dowell
  
  Sep 29, 2018
  
  Hahaha the struggle is REAL!
  
  Reply
iamahorrorfanatic

Sep 29, 2018

I understand that waiting for inspiration is not always going to work, but I find it immensely helpful looking through pics on free photo sites helps to establish a theme for my writing. It really works for me! :D

Reply
1. Meg Dowell
  
  Sep 30, 2018
  
  See, but you’ve managed to narrow down a very specific thing that finds you that spark — and that’s awesome! I used to spend way too much time browsing any and every site I could think of, which was not very productive … but if you know one thing in particular to focus your attention on, it can totally work in your favor. :)
  
  Reply