Prompt: Write a list of all your excuses for not writing and share them with a writing buddy.

Okay, a word of advice first to all my writing buddies out there. I do not take well to command-like help. When you read my excuses, don't try to help me get over them by telling me to just do it, or so what, write anyway. Or tell me it's just an excuse, write anyway. Or tell me I can do the other thing later, write NOW. I deal with encouragement better than forceful commands. Suggestions on what I maybe could work on that would work well with the particular excuse I have on a given day. Or tell me to go do what I need to do first and then write. Give me permission to have the excuse with a reminder to write afterwards helps more than telling me to forgo the excuse and just write already. If you're not good with that sort of thing, then please, don't try to help me get over my excuses when I have them, it will probably have the opposite effect ^_^

--Too tired, no energy to hardly lift a pen, let alone have creative thought (get through it: Ask me if a short nap will help, or suggest something I could do to help me wake up and be more alert then try writing, or something similar)

--Allergies are making it hard to type, let alone concentrate, and they wear me out (get through it: Write AGAIN on the misery of allergies, maybe try it from a different perspective, write as if you were someone else writing about poor you and your allergies)

--Asthma-like symptoms are making it very hard to breath, let alone concentrate and are wearing me out, making me fuzzy-headed. (get through it: Get fresh air, open windows, don't lay down it'll just make it worse and then write about something that the immediate feeling of breathlessness can help create more of an impact--like a murder choking scene, or someone with an asthma attack or whatever)

--I need to type up a crit for DII before the month is out and should do it now (Get through it: Assess which one you really feel like doing right now, if neither then maybe do something where you can rejuvenate your mind while you think of what you could work on, just think, then maybe you'll be able to work on it, or at least write you down and that will help you get in the zone enough to finish the crit afterwards)

--Too much distraction going on around me to concentrate (Get through it: not too sure what to do about this when it happens while Delos is at work, I can't completely close myself off from Michael while I write, I guess I'll need to just learn how to work around it)

--The computer chair is getting uncomfortable but I have no where else to go and write at the computer or write comfortably in a notebook either. (Take some time away from the computer, go relax in the tub and think about your stories, incubate them while you relax joints and muscles in hot water. If you still don't want to sit at the computer chair, then just take the day off, maybe finding somewhere comfortable to just read will be better, or do some housework to keep that excuse from popping up tomorrow).

--I need to clean , it's been bugging me and cluttering my mind (Get through it: this one is more like a fact rather than an excuse when it happens, my main problem is getting up the motivation to go get that chore done and out of my mind so that other things can enter it).

--I'll write later, after I feel more awake (Get through it: Think of ways I could help myself wake up, make myself feel more alive and alert, fresh, then sit to write.)

--If I play an rpg-type game it gives good practice for story-telling and character development, or at the least exposes me to story elements that a book might and is easier for my brain to digest right now (used when I'm groggy, allergy-ridden, asthma-effected or otherwise not nearly at my best)--I also do not plan to give up playing games altogether, I enjoy them immensely too. (Get through it: Use it as a reward not an excuse)

--Until recently a small excuse was to delay my progress on something I felt was close to being done because I didn't want to finally think it was done, submit it and have my whole world turned upside down by an imminent rejection. I can handle rejection on things I think are unpolished and are not my best, but don't know how I would fare putting forth my absolute best and having it treated like yesterday's garbage. Therefore, I have yet to create something to the point that I think it's polished enough to go out and know it's my best work. Then I realized why I was delaying and such and my "not trying is failing to" side kicked in to combat this self-destructive tendency.

--I need to catch up on my emails (Get through it: Okay, catch up on them, and while you're at it, see if any titles of spam or any other emails actually inspire a kernel of thought for a story).

--I just don't feel like writing (Get through it: Write about that and why you don't feel like it, maybe it will be just the warm up you need to encourage more free-flowing thought, or you could take the day off to do writing-related things like reading a book).

--I suck right now and getting better seems so far away (Get through it: Remember that it takes at least 6 years of study plus field practice to make a good professional, writing is not much different. How would a doctorate freshman do if someone put them in charge of a vital operational procedure? Just keep writing, with the focus of improving so that the improvements become the natural instincts just like any good, well-studied student would do. The more you work at making vital procedures and techniques automatic, the better you will start to get.

--I really should be working on Stalemate (Get through it: But I don't really want to right now, why do I want to get through stalemate? Because everyone else has a novel and so many people want to see mine and I want to show them just what I am capable of, but the story is over my head. I can't let any one story get in the way of reaching my daily quota of words, even if they're words that will never be published, otherwise Stalemate will always be in the way and I'll learn to hate it. If I lose interest in the story, so will my readers.)

--Writing isn't fun anymore (Get through it: So write something fun and ignore what everyone else thinks you should be writing, put the fun back into it with a new and exciting project and it just may enliven the rest of your work. Make it hokey, corney or just plain awful. It doesn't matter, so long as you have fun doing it.)

--How can I ever hope to help earn money for us being this bad? (Get through it: You can't ever hope to help earn money if you don't get started improving everything to the point that someone would pay for it, so get started. Remember that the money is secondary, reaching the audience has always been first.)

I'm sure I have other excuses, and I'd like to remind all of my writer friends reading this that I have a very stern inner voice to combat my laziness and make me feel guilty etc. That's why I don't like people telling me what to do, my inner voice is already telling me what I should/need to do and having others tell me so makes me feel childish. I'd prefer support and gentleness from my writer buddies and not stern no-nonsense stuff (I've got enough of the stern no-nonsense stuff going on in my own head, I need my buddies to take the other side of the scale to keep me in balance).