Keeping Yourself On Track

 

Accountability.

 

Not a popular word these days. But people who take responsibility for what they do or fail to do learn much more than simply finding creative ways to blame others for what happens to them. They learn self-discipline and earn self-respect. It carries over into all areas of life.

 

With writing being such a solitary endeavor, accountability can be a sticky issue. Self-imposed deadlines just don’t pack the punch of an editor-induced deadline. But there isn’t an editor alive who is going to care about your writing practice. Who’s going to know if you don’t hit the BUTT-ON (butt-on the chair & write!)? In fact, who’s really going to care?

 

You have to.

 

But we’ve covered that.

 

You have to hold yourself accountable too. How?

 

• Decide when you’re going to practice and then write it down. Let your calendar hold you to it. In fact, write it down on just about every calendar in the house. Maybe someone will remind you if it slips your mind. Then treat that appointment like it will cost you money if you don’t show up.

• If fact, consider making it cost you money. Or dessert. Or something else. Create your own unpleasant consequences for not writing. Cleaning the refrigerator or scrubbing bathroom grout with a toothbrush might work for you. <g>

• If you don’t write when you said you were going to, at the earliest possible time thereafter write down why you didn’t. If you find you are chronically missing a certain appointment, it’s a good indication that you’ve not chosen the wisest possible time and/or place to get the writing practice done.  So change it. But remember you are trying to lay a foundation and a perpetually shifting foundation isn’t a good thing. You may have to tweak in the beginning, but that should dwindle as the practice becomes a steady habit.

• If your excuses for not writing are whiny and shallow, well—you know what to do. Use your 10 minutes to remind yourself of why those excuses don’t work anymore. Then treat the situation the same as you would if you failed to keep your doctor’s appointment. Fix it. Make up the time. Don’t sit around beating yourself up so badly that you want to quit. That’s no more productive than failing to write. You’re aiming for progress, not guilt.

• Find a writing buddy. There’s nothing wrong with teaming up with someone who is expecting you to send them a progress report on the days you’re supposed to write. You don’t have to send them what you write—just the information that you did write and that you met your goal.

• Don’t start with a goal that is too large! This has been mentioned before, but it bears repeating. Bite off a portion that can be easily chewed. The success it brings will feed your enthusiasm and you’ll be less likely to need all this accountability stuff.

• Remember to do nothing but write during the writing practice time. No research, no filing, no queries, none of that stuff that is “technically” part of writing too. This is creation time. Period. Rough, raw drafts of your current project are fine. As is pretending you are the lead character in your novel and you’re handling a situation that doesn’t even appear in your book. These are all generating new words from your head, heart and hands. There is a joy in the creation phase that is unique and exhilarating. Find it, and let the promise of it carry you through even on the days when getting started is hard.

• Celebrate success! One good way is to print out what you write, if you’re working on a computer. Watch the pages stack up. (Or watch the notebooks take up shelf/box space.) Sooner or later, they’ll stack up to novel size and you’ll know you can do it.

 

Another reward could be to promise yourself things that make your writing area special. Cool pens, notebooks, motivational calendars, scented candles, a new lamp, new file folders in red, a special coffee cup, gold star stickers—whatever you can look at as proof that you’re succeeding in your goal is worth the investment.

 

Accountability isn’t such a bad word. It’s an adult way to look at a situation and take charge.

 

So charge ahead and write!!!

 

©2003Dekat 

 

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©2004 Carolyn Dekat
Last Modified: April 1, 2004