Bad excuses: social media, video games, self-pity Good excuses: working out, reading other people's scripts, going out and doing things. I resist the impulse by reminding myself that I have no other marketable talents or career ambitions, so I'd better just shut up and do it.

Oh, I don't know, maybe checking out GITS and seeing what's up :-) The first thing I learned to combat most excuses to NOT write is first think horses, not zebras (a medical idiom). Our bodies are designed to stand or lay down, not sit. We may think other things are keeping us from writing (a complex disorder of some kind) when we're actually avoiding the physical discomfort that comes with being absorbed in work and forgetting to move. Now I either stand or set a timer to make sure that excuse is erased. And I totally agree with ZLaPorteAirey! This is all I've got, so shut up, figure it out, and get to work.

Having a script ready to pitch is expensive (registration, paying someone to proofread it, blacklist, contests, etcetera). So, although I'm a fast writer I decided to slow down until the end of the year as I wait for contest results, queries, Blacklist evaluations etcetera. Also I'm using this time to take care of my health and look for a plan B if I don't manage to make a living from my writing in 2013.

"Research"

"I'm sooo tired" / "I feel like $%*&." External deadlines are the best way to shake me into action. Beyond that, there's a certain point I'll reach where I realize I won't be able to live with myself if I don't do *something*.

I think there’re “distances” which time after time should be taken between your writing attempts. I wouldn’t call it ‘rest’: some kind of trick of unconsciously distraction from the process, or even secret research [of story material]. ‘Secret’ means consciously avoided, because even with those ESPN.com or GITS – it’s always looking for angle of your material (at least works with me). I feel like I never fully emerge in whatever keeps me from actual writing. The actual rest is my daily work (8 hours). However I don’t want to deny the above mentioned comments’ theories: they’re fine with me as well. As to what I do to force myself to write: watch a movie, read, watch fav. actor/director/writer’s interview. Sometimes housekeeping, that you actually ARE ABLE to complete – that’s often helps. Also creating a mood helps: a song or two.

I'm a copywriter at an advertising agency. I write for eight hours every day. You wouldn't believe how hard it is thinking up new ways to write about prostate cancer or air fares. Every. Day. All. Day. When I get home, all I want to do is drink beer and massage my brain with a few hours of a Netflix movie or a spy novel before getting some damned sleep. In conclusion, for a person with a "normal" full-time job, it is very, very difficult to devote time and energy to writing a script. I have the advantage of sitting in front of a computer at my job, so I cheat. I work on my script during down time at work. To answer your second question, when I'm on a tear and the story is working well, I have to force myself to not blow off work for hours at a time by reminding myself that my script could land me on the unemployment line. So, generally, I email myself notes or scenes and incorporate them at home. That is, if I'm not watching somebody else's writing on t.v.

"I just need to beat this level of Candy Crush Saga..." so many hours wasted that I could have been writing

Easily the internet including social media. There is so much stuff to look at and check.

My wife and kids.

Best excuse NOT to write? - I don't have "excuses" not to write. I do, however, have things in my life that deserve my time that I make a priority: Wife, child, house, house renovations, family, friends, work. How do you resist your impulse NOT to write? I don't resist that impulse. I get up early every day and I write. The mornings are my time. I make some coffee and I sit down and write, every day, for as long as I can. I do this for two reasons. 1. The stories burn inside me and I need to get them out. 2. I know there is another writer out there that has eight hours a day to write, and that is the person that I am competing against. I know I need to work extra hard to keep up with "that guy". I know I can't take a day off, because he/she won't. I know I need to kick my own ass, because I got a late start in the game and I didn't work as an intern and network with people in the industry and I don't have that same "in" that he does. I write daily because success comes from hard work and putting words on a page and improving every single day. Do or do not. There is no try, because failure is not an option.

Family Watching movies Moderating the Black Board But at least most of that can be considered research.....can't it?

The only excuse I have for 'not' writing is that it isn't good enough. If a screenplay I'm working on is not working or isn't feeling shazam, I step back, shelf it for a day or two and write like hell on something that doesn't matter....I have this cheesy horror right now that is my 'fun' script. I go to it and pour words on the page when the 'big' script I'm wroking on isn't working *sigh* It's damn hard, this business. My best friend once told me..."A script is like a house of cards, Dena, if one isn't in place, it will just fall down." .....so true.

Same here. Research is a great excuse b/c you're feeling "productive" working on your script. But, typically, I overdo looking something up by about 587%. Should've taken 5 min.s, now 2.5 hours later I'm finally back at my script. How do I overcome procrastination? Writing is the overpowering motivation to get out of my current life. The current life is fine, but I want better -- and better ain't gonna happen until I put words on a page.

Thinking. I constantly in thinking-mode requiring me to take a walk down by the water and mull things over, Better rehash every element of it, and make sure of where it fits inthe overall structure...and while i'm at it, what about that other scene that plays into this one, but needs some work? Sitting at screen feels like pressure, must look at the sea again. Refresh. Days can go by like that, unfortunately. But sometimes, if i'm lucky, I do write something I can tolerate later.

This is awful, but I feel paralyzed by too much reading. Like, the more I read the more I realize how much I need to learn so I need to read some more to gain more knowledge. So I get another book or script and read it, learn more, and realize that I need to read more again. So I'm in this cycle of consuming rather than producing. Historically, I would just pound out a script and then tweak it but I can't bring myself to do that now. Poor me. Lol. I'm writing over the long weekend, even if it is crap. Plus, my next shipment from amazon isn't due until Monday so...