Friday Five: My Top Excuses Not to Write

We all do it. Writers are experts at coming up with every possible reason not to write. I do it more often than I should. I'm trying to be better about it, but sometimes I just cannot keep my butt in the chair with the Word document open. Here are my top five excuses that I need to get rid of:

1. I have no good ideas. I’m a very harsh judge and definitely my toughest critic. What I think is an awful idea probably isn’t that bad. I always think I need to come up with something extraordinary.

2. I just finished a great story. Don’t I deserve a break? No. No, I don’t deserve a break. When I have millions of dollars from my bestselling novel, then I will take a break. But until then, no. I still use this as an excuse, though.

3. But…but…PINTEREST! I always say I’m only going to look on Pinterest for ten minutes, but it turns into two hours so fast. I really need to start disconnecting my internet during writing time.

4. I need to spend time with my family. This has been my main excuse this summer. I have trouble isolating myself and focusing on writing when my family is downstairs. I try to hang out with my family as much as I can when I’m home on vacation, because I know I’ll miss them when I go back to school.

5. The story is an unsalvageable train wreck that makes me want to yank fistfuls of my hair out every time I look at it. It’s an unfortunate day in the neighborhood when this happens. I usually power through it, though, with the help of brightly colored pens and coffee.

What's your favorite excuse? And how do you overcome it?