After attending numerous writers groups and writers conferences over the last decade, I’ve heard lots of people give excuses for why they aren’t writing. Some of them I’ve even heard coming from myself! For fun, I came up with a list of 101 excuses not to write. See what you think.
1. No one will want to read it anyway
2. I’m not good enough
3. I don’t have time to be creative
4. I have to take care of everybody else first
5. I’m just too busy to go on book tours
6. The sun is in my eyes
7. Starbucks has run out of coffee
8. I don’t know what to write about
9. No one will understand me
10. I don’t think I can handle success
11. I don’t think I can handle failure
12. If my parents had encouraged/would encourage me more, I could do this
13. If my spouse/children/teachers/friends would encourage me more, I could do this
14. Writers are naval-gazers
15. I like money too much to become a starving artist
16. It takes too long to learn to write well
17. I don’t like criticism
18. There’s a ballgame on
19. I don’t like to read
20. My twitter followers need me to tweet about what I had for lunch
21. See #1 on the list (it’s worth repeating)
22. The spell-check on my computer is set to British English
23. I don’t want to have to promote my own book
24. I don’t really have anything to say
25. Everybody says I should write a book, but I don’t believe them
26. See # 7
27. I want to save on electricity
28. I can’t find the pencil sharpener I used in 3rd grade
29. The back of this envelope isn’t big enough
30. I can’t afford the gasoline to drive to Starbucks
31. There are no comfortable chairs in my house
32. It’s too cold
33. It’s too hot
34. My facebook friends need me to post something every 5 minutes
35. I work fulltime
36. I’m already better than all those bozos writing today
37. If I can’t have fame and fortune, I don’t want to bother
38. Writing is the get-rich-slow-or-not-at-all plan
39. 99% of all writers get their work rejected by publishers
40. I’ll do it when I have more time to devote to it
41. I’ll do it when the kids are grown
42. I’ll do it after my divorce is final
43. I’ll do it after I am independently wealthy
44. I’ll do it after I get everything finished with the house
45. I’ll do it after everybody I want to write about is dead
46. I need my down time
47. Most of the writer’s I know are mentally unbalanced
48. I’m too tired
49. My neighbors are too loud
50. Is that a dog barking?
51. I need to go out to get a drink with my neighbors
52. I have a cut on my finger
53. My back hurts
54. My ghostwriter has disappeared
55. Sarah Palin has already said it all
56. John Grisholm doesn’t answer my emails
57. Oprah’s show has ended, so my book won’t be a book club pick
58. I don’t have anything to wear to the Academy Awards
59. My cat won’t get off my lap
60. repeat # 6
61. I need to wash my car
62. Somebody’s got to make a living
63. The coffee shop doesn’t carry my brand of tea
64. My writer’s group is full of critics
65. Writer’s conferences are a racket
66. I have a cramp in my big toe
67. It’s that time of the month
68. My bowling team will think I’m a sissy
69. I won’t have anyone to sit next to at the National Book Awards
70. I’m shy
71. I need to make a list of excuses for my blog readers so maybe they’ll laugh and maybe even buy my books
72. I can’t afford to live in New York City where all the famous writers live
73. I don’t have time to find an agent
74. Creativity is over-rated
75. I’m sleep-deprived
76. Hemingway killed himself
77. I don’t have enough self-esteem
78. I’m a woman
79. I’m a man
80. I’m not white
81. I’m not a person of color
82. I’m thirsty
83. Time to eat
84. I need to see who wins American Idol
85. I secretly find myself boring and have absolutely nothing to say
86. Virginia Woolf drowned herself
87. I don’t want to become an alcoholic
88. I don’t want to give up drinking
89. I’m much better than a lot of writers out there; they’ll be jealous
90. I don’t like competition
91. The publishing companies only want stories about vampires
92. No one is getting published these days
93. I ran out of my medication
94. If I had had a better childhood, I could do this
95. My therapist is on vacation for the next two months
96. I have to write the next great American novel
97. I’ve never read a great American novel
98. see # 83 and repeat
99. I don’t like writers
100. Is there an app for this?
Now add in the comment section your own number one excuse for not writing that book, poem, article, screenplay, or other creative endeavor:
101. ——————————
Are there any excuses from the list that you particularly resonate with? We all make excuses. But let’s face it, excuses are boring, and my guess is that you really do have something to say. So why don’t we collectively bury all those excuses in a cyber box in our cyber backyards and get on with it, shall we?!
P.S. My novel, Seeking Sara Summers , is available in paperback and is also a bestseller on Kindle. It can be found at iBooks and Barnes and Noble (on the Nook), as well. Thanks for checking it out! No excuses, please.
It’s hard for me to resonate with this post. I’ve never let anything keep me from writing a book I wanted to write. I guess the only possible exception is that I did not have the time, energy or space to do so when my kids were babies and toddlers. Then again, I didn’t want to write books during that time. I wanted to nap LOL. Once time, energy and space opened back up for me, I basically got back to it.
This is one of the reasons I have a hard time empathizing with writers who don’t write. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think they’re bad or weak or lazy. I just don’t understand. If there’s something you want to write, write it!
Thanks, Scout. You are definitely a rare bird and someone to look up to. I don’t use a whole lot of excuses these days either, except that I could really use a nap myself (though my daughters are out of the nest now) and I’m a tad burnt out on all this marketing stuff. Are they considered excuses if they are true? That said, I will get back to writing!
Also, here are comments from my wonderful email subscribers:
“That’s brilliant Susan. fortunately, I have no excuses to add to the list, because I am actively writing just about everyday. Maybe I’ll be in print again. Maybe not. If I’m not, it wont be because I wasn’t writing, and submitting it. Last night at “Spoken Word,” I felt particularly honoured because my song, “Volare”, that I performed in Italian, was so warmly received. Turns out there were several native speaking Italians there, and they are very emotional people. Thanks for your inspiration.
T.”
“I love this! All very clever, all very true..it’s why I don’t have a book written!” Ann
> 8. I don’t know what to write about
That’s actually a very good reason. Go to Authorstand.com: you’ll see a lot of people who have this problem.
> 19. I don’t like to read
Well, I can’t imagine anyone writing something good if they don’t like reading.
> 24. I don’t really have anything to say.
See no. 8.
> 57. Oprah’s show has ended, so my book won’t be a book club pick
You should be so lucky.
> 55. Sarah Palin has already said it all
What??????
> 54. My ghostwriter has disappeared
That’s why they call them “ghost” writers. Boo!
> 59. My cat won’t get off my lap
Now, come on, this is a LEGITIMATE excuse!
Hello Susan,
a) I don’t have time to write because I’m always reading Susan’s blog. (How’d you like that one?)
b) I have a full time job, a cat, and I read lots of mss. (Is that one or three excuses?)
c) I don’t have time to write because I’m still stuck on whether ‘b’ is one or three excuses.
Cheers. Keep us laughing, Susan.
Comments on facebook:
Melissa wrote: “Thank you. Timely. Appreciate this so much.”
Jan wrote: “Used (almost) every one of them. Today.”
My excuse is I edit until there is nothing left. By the by, is AuthorStand.com legit ? That may be some inspiration for me.
I think excuses not to write are perhaps more about not (yet) knowing how to write which, in turn, ends up as an excuse not to write! As in; I don’t know how to organize my writing-process so I go on Youtube to find advice but instead end up watching funny cat video’s. But I’ll get back to writing soon, I promise! (As soon as I figure out how to do that in the first place…)
Accepting that writing is like any other job and requires sitting on a chair for a few hours every day is the first thing required.
This can not be taught in a day or by watching Youtube video’s, it needs to become a slowly adapted custom.
Life is a learning process and everything we humans do is a learned skill.
Speaking from experience, I wish I could have learned quicker what a writing-routine is (apart from the actual art of writing!) Instead of the decade of discovery that I had to endure.
But then, I would not be where I am now without it.
Trial and error is part of the writing-process, I guess. Therefore so is staring out of a window, with the dream of writing a book, while perhaps not yet in the place to really do so.
You can’t force experience onto people. Sometimes a penny needs to drops slowly.
Thus, doing the dishes while in between trying and failing to write, might be essential.
At some point those dishes will no longer scream so loud to be cleaned and you will find yourself sitting at your desk, more and more each day, writing.
Where a constant writer emerges, so does an author.