Writing, like any other activity humans engage in, is a target for procrastination. You might wonder how something as simple as placing words down on a page or up on a screen in a particular order would be a cause for consternation and procrastination, but it is. Every writer knows this. If you a

re reading this, maybe you have a writing project or two that is not moving forward. Here are six tips to jump the fence and plough the writing field.

1. Break out of whatever procrastination pattern you are in and establish a new pattern.

If you find yourself sitting down at work or at home to write and you are drawn into the internet or email. DO NOT get on the internet to “Check just one thing.” That is a trap. Recognize it and stay clear. additionally, this is not the time to re-grout your bathroom or de-flea the cat. recognize distractions for what they are.

2. Immediately open the document you need to move forward and commit to writing for five good minutes or completing one good sentence. “What?” You say, “How is one good sentence going to help? I need to write ten pages.”

Ah, but therein lays the problem. When we think, “I have to write ten good pages, or, my writing has to be perfect and flow effortlessly from my pen…” that is when we are setting ourselves up for failure. A writing instructor once told me that his work, which seemed so effortless when read, was typically the result of a minimum of ten drafts. In other words, revision is not anything to be feared. And in order to revise, you have to have something down.

3. Get distractions down to a minimum. This could be noise, or silence, or being at home or at a cafe. Everyone will be dealing with different things that distract them. But figure out what your particular distractions are and avoid them. Me, I have found that I need to get out of my house to write and that the library is just as distracting to me as the house. Yet, this little tea shop about a mile from where I live is a great place for me to write. Thus, I get up in the morning and grab my laptop and walk to the tea shop and write there.

4. Reward yourself for the one good sentence. Again, get the work done and give yourself a reward. Have the muffin, surf the net for fifteen minutes or start de-fleaing that cat. Find the thing that motivates you and use it shamelessly.

5. Do less than you could and quit while you still have something to say. Again, every writer is different, but for me, I like to leave a sentence hanging and then when I come back to the piece later or the next day, my mind has been churning with how to finish that sentence and where to go next. And the daily walk to the tea shop helps too. My mind starts up and I begin thinking of what to begin with.

6. Commit to writing for five good minutes or to getting one good sentence down on paper every day. Of course, you can do more, and my experience is that once you settle in and get that one good sentence down, you will write a second and a third. Even so, if you can put in five good minutes of writing a day for a week, that’s 35 minutes of good writing.

Today for instance, I am getting ready to take an 800 mile car trip, but I have committed to doing five good minutes of writing or one good sentence, on three current writing projects. Even though I have a lot to do before I get in my car and drive, I want to move these projects forward. I have each opened on my laptop and I am working on this blog entry, then on a fictional piece, and finally a second blog entry. I will not finish any of these today, but with a few minutes effort, all three will move forward.

Believe me, five minutes effort does not seem like much, but the momentum that comes from regularly practicing this procrastination beater will pay off. You can do five minutes, right?