Do you endlessly procrastinate, fill your precious witing time with Facebook, phonecalls, or housework? Anything but facing that blank page or screen? You are not alone, dear writer. A myriad irrelevant distractions can fill my day, until the motivation and energy have flown, and I am filled with endless self-recriminations. Please post your experiences, and solutions if you have them, here!

The following is one blogger’s wise words on how to begin writing that novel:

ReBlogged from Michael E. Gellert on ‘Daily Write’

 One doesn’t jump out of bed one day and decide to run a marathon. One has to practice, prepare, and most importantly, train. Writing a novel is no different. One has to set time aside, cut down hours at the office, bribe one’s partner to do the yard-work, and buy the kids enough video games to keep them in their rooms until they go off to university. One has to limber up, with writing exercises every day, and study the field by reading every day.

But if you’ve done all those things already, you’re now faced with the problem of starting your novel. You know you want to write one, but heck if you know what the silly thing is going to be about. No problem. No special equipment needed. You just need the desire to write. Leonard Bishop, author of Down All Your Streets, The Butchers, and The Everlasting, once famously said, “Writing begets writing.” And he’s right. So, even if you don’t yet have a seed of an idea, let’s get started.

• Write about something unusual you saw yesterday.
• Write about the first time you did something.
• Try to imagine how your parents met.
• Write about the worst date you ever had.
• Write about something you love to do.
• Describe the view from your window.
• Write a letter to a friend (sending it is optional; feel free to write the forbidden).
• Imagine what your life would be like if it were perfect.
• Summarize the plot of your favorite novel or movie (it doesn’t matter if you get it exactly right).
• Write the words to as many Broadway (or Beatles or Elvis or Bollywood) songs as you can remember.