1. Set a small, easily achievable writing goal. If you breeze past it, you can keep going. But make your primary goal as simple as possible.

2. If you’re not in the right headspace to write what you planned on writing, switch things up and write something else instead of just giving up.

3. Move to a different writing location than you normally work at (even if it’s just a different room or a different part of the same room). A change of scenery can make all the difference.

4. Set a timer for 30 minutes and just start writing freely about something that interests or excites you.

5. Treat the thing you’d rather be doing as a reward for getting your writing done. Find a way to withhold that reward from yourself until you’ve accomplished your task.

6. Write about why you’re so motivated to do that thing that isn’t writing.

7. Write about why you don’t want to write.

8. Set aside specific time for writing and a separate time for doing that thing you’d rather be doing, whatever it is (let’s just assume it’s watching Netflix).

9. Don’t do fun things in the same space you usually write — train your brain to treat your writing space as a writing space exclusively. (Technically writing can be fun, but you get what I mean.)

10. You don’t have to get everything done in one sitting or write 1,000 words. Just try to write something. Sometimes starting is the hardest part, but once you get past that, you’re good to go.

Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.

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