Medicine

Most writers suffer from a lack of discipline. The urge to procrastinate is strong as writing is agonizing work because it is done alone without support from colleagues, acquaintances, and friends unlike other occupations that take place in an office, a store, a factory, or some other location where people are present. Thus a strong incentive is needed.

Even this will not eliminate procrastination. But remedies do exist to alleviate this condition. Probably one of the best antidotes is an assignment from an outside source: a newspaper, a magazine, a publisher, an editor, a wife, or a partner. Reporters appear to always meet their deadlines, article writers do most of the time, novelists often do, but writers who are driven by editors, wives, or partners usually do.

Another good motivator is the stack of bills piling up beside the typewriter or computer. If writing is the main source of income, it is a commanding inducement, especially if the wife or partner urges the writer to produce. The need to pay the bills can force one to sit and write, to complete the assignment, and to meet the deadline because the money is needed.

So the greatest remedy for lack of self-discipline is an assignment, a deadline, and a stack of bills. If all three are present, there can be no better reason to get at that writing job and to finish it.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several novels based on Canadian history that are available from Amazon. com, Amazon. ca, Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.