#DECEMBER WINNERS POST-Sonia Gives Us Tips to Avoid Procrastination

Laura here once again!

The December prompt saw a lot of wonderful entries! Choosing a winner was no easy task, but Sonia prevailed with a beautiful and heart-wrenching tale.

Judge Nick Wilford said:

"A beautiful evocation of loss. This was really touching."

If you haven't yet read the previous post listing our winners, please do so.

Now it is our pleasure to host a guest post from our winner Sonia. In addition to this guest post, she also won a critique from J.L. Campbell and a guest post in the IWSG newsletter.

Have you as a writer ever struggled with procrastination? Sonia has some useful tips to help you avoid it and get words on the page.

The Art of Not Procrastinating

Finally, I am at my desk doing the WEP Post. It’s taken me some time with the New Year and all the travelling. But more than that, I think procrastinating has been my biggest enemy when it comes to writing. The temptation to write on another day, when the sun is out and the bees make enough honey or when God himself decides to send the right signal, is so strong that today just doesn’t seem enough! So, I decided to talk about the art of “not procrastinating” when it comes to writing.

The famous Indian saint and mystic poet, Kabir Das says in his oft-quoted couplet,

‘ काल करे सो आज कर, आज करे सो अब

पल में परलय होएगी बहुरि करेगा कब !’

Simply translated, what you intend to do tomorrow, do it today and what you intend doing today, do it right away because the world might end in the blink of an eye leaving you with no time at all!

On the flip side, I am also someone who believes in writing ONLY when my heart calls and when words flow ceaselessly. Yet, sometimes, this belief can turn out to be the most incredible impediment.

The ‘Art of Not Procrastinating’, I think, can help writers a great deal. Here are a few pointers I made for myself and which might help my writer friends:

Have a personal almanac   Assign yourself a task for every single date on the calendar. The same piece may spill over to another date but just be clear about what you want to write about on a particular day.

Smaller Goals   Just ensure to spend fifteen minutes writing. Do not think that you shall sit at the table only when you have enough. Fifteen minutes should help you start.

Perfection is a Myth   We often postpone work because we want to do it near perfect. On the contrary, remember that action is far more important than perfection, which is subjective and only a state of mind.

One Goal at a Time   Do not think of achieving too many targets together. If you are looking at writing a book, it is better to focus on it than fill your time with several small pieces to attain temporary gratification.

If you must write gibberish, so be it   Stop waiting for the muse to come to you, for the perfect word to hit your mind. Write whatever you can, even if it’s not the best version. It is way better than not writing at all!

There are, way many points to add to the list above, but for now, I guess I can just ask you to get to your desk. I just did that and finished this piece. Yay!

About the Author-Sonia Dogra is a blogger and writer, who is trying to play with words in the hope that they may convey what her heart wishes to say! She may be read here: A HundredQuills

Thank you Sonia! I'll have to try these out for myself. I'm already following one of these as part of my goals for the new year. I'm writing so much gibberish right now, but I'm meeting my word count goals.

Please join us for the first challenge of 2020 in February as we begin a new year at Write...Edit...Publish. I have the feeling this one is going to be special and filled with wonderful stories.

Feel free to check out ideas from the WEP 2020 Challenges Page for the next prompt ..or not. It's up to you!

More details are coming in Denise's post on February 1st. See you there!

Until then, happy writing!

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The WEP 2019 December Challenge Footprints Winner's Post - @TheIWSG @DeniseCCovey #amwriting #flashfiction https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/01/december-winners-post-sonia-gives-us.html #WEPFF

Do you struggle with procrastination? December Challenge Winner's Post @TheIWSG @DeniseCCovey  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/01/december-winners-post-sonia-gives-us.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction

Join @TheIWSG @DeniseCCovey for the Winner's Post Footprints  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/01/december-winners-post-sonia-gives-us.html  #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction

Will you follow the footprints of advice? Join @TheIWSG @DeniseCCovey for the winner's post https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/01/december-winners-post-sonia-gives-us.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction

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