Write BEFORE...

Cor! The gale force winds in Brighton today nearly made my body subvert the laws of gravity! I had to fight just to take little pigeon steps down one of the steepest hills in the area. Good thing I had a warm coat on...and come to think of it, if the wind had died down slightly on my descent and I had rediscovered the power of gravity, at least I would have had a nice cushioned landing!


Although the interesting things I discovered about wind today might deserve their own post, the reason I brought it up was more relevant to my destination - the library. Not the most surprising place for someone like me, sure, but I decided to put some advice to the test!


Since the weekend I've been catching up on all the newsletters I missed reading while I've been on holiday, and all the recent ones are full of advice about time management and prioritising writing. Maybe it's because summer is ending and holidays are over, because I know that I for one never have a clue what day or what time it is when I'm on holiday! 


So I trawled through the advice, much of it the same sort of stuff, until I came across Moira Allen's take on it in her Writing World newsletter. It was so simple, you wouldn't think of it yourself: basically, instead of saying you'll write after you've washed up or after you've checked your email or after x, y, z...simply say you'll write before doing something else!


Genius!


So today I told myself I would write before I checked out new potential markets and before 3 pm. That gave me quite a bit of scope, but the second I had it in my head that that was my plan, I found I wanted to write with pen and paper, and that I didn't want to be in my flat and would like to be in the library...and surprised at all these sudden impulses I ran with them, and had the most productive, least stressful writing session I've had in months.


I've said here before that I have procrastination issues, so I'm hoping this can become my mantra and my secret weapon - it's going in my box of power tools for writing! (I might share it with you one day, when it's a little tidier...and fuller!) 


And the best thing was...I didn't mind going out in this miserable weather :)