Alexandra Franzen Newsletter/ For me, it's the dishes...

We’ve all got “something” we love to do… instead of actually working. Right?

For me, it’s the dishes. I can happily scrub a sink full of dishes—and then sweep, mop, fold laundry, fluff pillows, arrange magazines into perfectly symmetrical piles, and putter around my home for hours and hours on end—to avoid doing projects that are actually important. Like, say, writing my next novel.

I have to catch myself—and firmly stop myself, with tough love—because otherwise I can slip into forever-puttering-mode and before I know it, the day has slipped away!

What about you? What’s your favorite procrastination method? If you want, you can hit "reply" to this email and tell me all about it. 

Also, FYI... I’m teaching a class on December 5th called Stop Waiting, Start Writing and you’re welcome to attend if you like. Come one, come all. Bring friends!

This class is totally free. You can sign up here. You can watch from anywhere in the world. It’s interactive and you can type questions into the chat box while the class is happeniing. Very fun!

In this class, we’ll cover:

- How to set small, sane, realistic writing goals that you can actually achieve.

- How to make writing more fun, rather than feeling like another stressful to-do on your list.

- How to determine when a piece of writing is “done” and “good enough to be shared,” so you don’t fiddle with it for 5,000 hours and stall forever.

- Inspiring true stories about kids, teens, and grown-ups who decided to start writing—and did it.

I know it’s not easy to make time for writing (and other creative projects), but… this is it. One life. One chance to create. One flash and it’s all over. We always think we’ll have “more time next year” or "next spring" or "next summer" but eventually we all run out of summers.

It’s time to burn through our excuses and start doing the projects that really matter.

(And really, the dishes can wait.)

-Alex

PS. Some music to get your day going… Jennifer Lopez has been releasing new songs from her forthcoming album and I am LIVNG FOR IT. J.Lo, please never stop! I also love this song and this one, too.