One of my writing buddies, Jus Accardo, put together a 12 step programs for any and all writers who are WIP-Aholics. No explaination neccessary. You know who you are. And you’re on the fence about whether or not you’re one, remember, admiting you have a program is the first step- LOL. 🙂
1. We admit we are powerless against our WIPs—that they hold our muse—and our hard drives hostage.
2. We believe something greater than ourselves—the revision process and editing that comes with it—can and will restore our sanity.
3. We have made the choice to give our lives over to the care of our Muse.
4. We will cease extensively researching and move forward with the revision process so that our WIP will one day grace the desk of our dream agent.
5. We have admitted to ourselves, and our fellow writers, our flaws—and will make a conscious effort not to indulge our WIP obsession until we have made at least one submission.
6. We acknowledge that we are ready to move forward and tackle our enormous pile of WIPs—by focusing on them one at a time.
7. We offer chocolate, caffeine, and other indulgent gifts to our muse in exchange for urging us onward toward our publication goal.
8. We have made a list of the WIPs being neglecting, and are now willing to make amends.
9. We will continue to move forward with our neglected WIPs, admitting freely when the urge to start another surfaces.
10. We will, through chocolate and coffee, improve our relationship with our muse, begging for her/his knowledge and guidance.
11. We will not make excuses.
12. We will, having had an awakening of epic proportions due to these steps, go forth and spread this message to all other WIPaholics.
I loved this so much, I asked permission if I could share. So all you WIP-Aholics, take time to review the above affirmations. Become friends with them. Then… stop procrastinating & get going. 🙂