We want to look busy. Its a form of status .

The truth is being busy will not produce the result we desire.

Being a writer there are so many tasks that look like work , Feel like work but its not the work that is required.

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Doing research on the past Nobel Prize Winning Writers Routines is exciting but Its Just another lie we tell ourselves that we will write better when we are inspired.

When for some reason we happen to discover information that suddenly makes the writing process romantic.

The Reality of Great Work

Boring is a big part of every exciting and Great work we see. One in which there’s no music playing in the background.

Often we have to go back and remind ourselves what the core tasks are that we need to be working on.

Do we need to be writing and when will it be. Note time spent working is not the same as working.

The Comfort of Busy Work

We do busy work because its the closest thing to the real work we want to do.

At least when we are doing the busy work we can boldly say we are working .

Common Examples of Writers' Busy Work:

These are some instances of Busy work for writers

1. Dear Diary, Today I achieved peak productivity by creating seventeen different playlists for every possible mood my protagonist might experience in Chapter 1… which I haven’t started writing yet
2. I’m not avoiding my deadline - I’m conducting essential research by following 47 different writing advice accounts on social media. This is basically professional development
3. Me at 3 AM: I can’t possibly write until I’ve created a detailed weather forecast for every single day in my fictional world’s calendar. It’s called world-building and it’s ART.
4. Writer’s Block Treatment Plan: Step 1: Clean entire house Step 2: Research medieval brewing techniques for 6 hours Step 3: Organize writing desk Step 4: Reorganize writing desk Step 5: Pinterest writing inspiration boards Step 6: Stare at blank document Step 7: Repeat
5. Breaking news: Local writer discovers that organizing their paperclips by size, shape, and emotional vulnerability does not actually count as working on their story

Making Progress Measurable

What I know when it comes to dealing with busy work we have to make the work we intend to create measurable in some form. The idea of measuring it is to make it easy to know our progress.

An example would having a session word count goal of say 1000 words . Even though you might not reach the 1,000 words, Its easy to see if we really worked or not.

Looking Ahead

Recently I released a podcast episode on The Trap of Not Writing​

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From next week we will start reflecting on our writing for the year and setting our writing goals for next year 2025. You don’t want to miss the series.

Let me know the type of busy work you do?

Until next time, Keep writing.