Writers love to write, but some of the things writers do instead of writing are simply amazing. Okay, it’s me. I’m writers.
This weekend I had a chunk of time set aside to write. I was ready. I’d been thinking about scenes and dreaming about my characters. I was ready.
I sat down at my computer and it was all downhill from there.
I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but I’m not. 13,500 words so far. Not too shabby.
Things Writers Do Instead of Writing
I opened the computer, loaded my current work in progress, and then stared at the screen. That stupid cursor started blinking at me like its sole purpose in life was to offend me. And it did.
However, I was not going to be defeated by a cursor. No siree, Bob.
So I typed the word Chapter.
Then I realized I had forgotten to water my plants. I can’t have my plant babies getting all dried out.
Apparently watering plants was only the beginning. When I started paying attention, I realized there are a lot of things writers do instead of writing.
10 Things Writers Do Instead of Writing
1. Taking Care of Plant Babies (and Every Other Kind of Baby)
Taking care of plant babies, fur babies, real babies, the neighbor’s babies, or even babies you might have someday.
Obviously these things are important. Hydration and survival are key priorities. Writing can wait five minutes. Or ten. Or however long it takes to also check the soil levels in every single plant in the house.
Now I realize this may fall under the category of things writers do instead of writing. But it’s not, I swear. Like I said, plant hydration is important.
2. Rereading What You Already Wrote
Okay, so now the plants were all watered and I was ready. I sat myself down ready to go when I realized I had forgotten what I had written previously. Totally not my fault.
I’m juggling several writing projects right now, and it’s easy to get confused. So I had to go back a couple of chapters and read so I could get back in the flow.
I wouldn’t consider this something writers do instead of writing. It was research.
3. Fixing Formatting That Absolutely Cannot Wait
I was finally all caught up on what happened with my characters when I realized the section I wrote last week that was all internal dialogue just didn’t look right.
I had to fix it. There was no helping it. The formatting was all wrong and there wasn’t any way anyone could expect me to keep writing with that huge formatting error.
I had to fix it. It was practically a moral obligation at that point.
That wasn’t one of those things writers do to avoid writing. No. I was fixing the structure of my book.
4. Falling Down a Research Rabbit Hole
After I made those corrections, I remembered a news story I had seen about a contest in Finland where people are pulled by reindeer 
while they are on skis. The people, not the reindeer.
After Googling, I found the story. Apparently Finnish reindeer racing is quite the thing.
Thirty minutes later I was well versed in Finnish reindeer racing, but I still hadn’t written any of my story.
And you never know. It could pop up as a question on Jeopardy someday.
Honestly, I wasn’t doing one of those things writers do to avoid writing. I’m a teacher. Knowledge is power and all that. I needed to know.
5. Checking the Word Count Again
I closed out Google and got myself ready to go back to work. My eyes slid down to the bottom of the document.
13,501 words.
One word. I wrote one word since I started.
That couldn’t be right.
I saved everything, closed the document, and opened it again. After it loaded, I looked down at the bottom of the screen.
13,501.
Seriously?
Now I was getting depressed. I wasn’t just doing nothing. I was actively working. How could my word count only go up by one?
If you’ve ever found yourself staring at the screen wondering why your brain suddenly stopped cooperating, you’re definitely not alone. I wrote more about that exact moment in another post about what to do when you feel stuck while writing.
6. Make a playlist for a scene I still haven’t written
Don’t even try to tell me you haven’t done this. After all, it’s virtually impossible to write the perfect scene without the perfect playlist. 
How can you write the scene where your two protagonists lock eyes across a crowded room if Back in Black is playing? That totally doesn’t work.
7. Reorganize notes and character sheets
Okay, I was finally ready to start writing. I pulled up my character notes for just a second to check something. That’s when I realized they were a complete mess. I had to fix them. Should my female protagonist have red hair, or blond? Seriously, I had to fix this before I could start writing.
8. Rename Files
Once I fixed my character notes, I had to rename the file. “Character Notes” wasn’t a very good file name. After all, how was I supposed to know which project these were the character notes for? Staying organized was a requirement when juggling multiple works in process. Honestly, I wasn’t doing things writers do to avoid writing. I was doing serious, important work here!
9. Scroll social media “just for a minute”
Then I remembered that I posted a Tik Tok about my new boxset. I needed to see how it was doing. I was only going to take a second just to see if it had gained any traction. The next thing I knew 30 minutes had passed. UGH!
10. Spin in my chair contemplating my life choices
Why couldn’t I focus? Without thinking, I began to twist my desk chair. First to the left, then to the right. Again, and again, and again. The next thing I knew I was spinning in my chair like a whirling dervish. What I wasn’t doing was writing. What I was doing was doing the things writers do to avoid writing.
Eventually, Writers Come Back to the Page
The funny thing is that writers love writing. We really do.
But apparently there are about a thousand things writers do instead of writing before we actually type the next sentence.
Eventually though, we always come back to the page. Maybe after watering plants, fixing formatting, researching reindeer racing, and checking the word count five times.
But sooner or later, the story wins.
