With the insurgence of Twitter as a networking/marketing tool, Alex and I have been having some fun learning to promote our books and blogs to all and sundry. (See Alex's blog.)

This morning I came across the following “Tweet” posted by Phillip Schofield in the UK: Wow, there's a lot of Saturday morning ironing going on in tweetsville!

To which I RT’d (Reply Tweeted, for the uninitiated): Apparently it ranks as #1 Diversion Tactic for writers!

Keep in mind, most of the people/groups I follow are Lit-related, for example publishers, agents and of course many, many fellow writers.

Checking out the dialogue between writers, I soon discovered that Phillip was right – there WAS a lot of Saturday morning ironing going on!

Now I can’t speak for other struggling writers, but from Monday to Friday I have a day job that keeps the kids in Cheerios. Which means, of course, that Saturday morning is PRIME TIME for writing, before the demands of the weekend beckon, or the call of the beach becomes too seductive.

After all, the laundry isn’t REALLY yelling at me to iron it. It can, in fact, be folded and put away as it is, leaving me time to complete at least ONE short chapter.

Which prompted me to ask the general question to all fellow writers: What kind of writer are YOU? Committed? Uncommitted? Ought to be committed?

My husband Alex, who has just sent his book “Two Scoops is Just Right” to the publisher, has a theory about “commitment”. He says that every activity presents the same set of choices to people, whether it be roller-blading or writing.

1-You can buy all the right gear, the helmet and elbow pads and best blades available on the market. You can tell yourself that you can’t possibly START blading until you have cleaned out your local sporting goods store. Also, you can’t possibly START writing till you have your own office or other quiet space (read garret) away from phones, kids, noises of any kind.

This rationale can buy a lot of procrastination points. You can effectively put off ANY activity this way.

2-You can promise yourself that you will START writing – as soon as the ironing or the cooking or the cleaning or the gardening etc. is done.

I call this a DIVERSION tactic, and a common one, in my opinion, based on the many writers I know.

3-You can tell yourself that you will begin writing as soon as you can afford the time or money to take a creative writing course, or a marketing course, or whatever other course you think will give you the credentials you need.

I am a big believer in learning all you can. By all means, attend a course. But if you are WAITING for those credentials to magically fall into place before you even begin, then sorry, but you’re not a writer. A writer writes, it’s as simple as that.

4-You can sit down this minute with your ‘puter or your pen and you can simply WRITE. You can write badly, or you can write well. You can burn every page as soon as you print it. You can edit your work for months, only to discover it wasn’t worth the effort anyway and you must trash it. None of that really matters. Writing is the end and the means, it is the practice that makes perfect (or at least marginally improved!) and it is the holy grail of all real writers.

So I’d like to throw the question out there to all my fellow-writers: What kind of writer are YOU? Committed? Uncommitted? Ought to be committed?

Comment below and let me know – consider it an invitation to firm up the old “commitment” factor once and for all!
Thanks for the info.
Donna Carrick August 15, 2009