…brought to you by the terrifying plot point I am supposed to be fixing right now.

1. Sharpen pencils. Writers need pencils, right? Really, you are just making life easier for Future You. It’s preparation.

2. Decide you need index cards to attack the particular plot problem you are working on. No, those index cards in the drawer won’t do. Go to the office supply store and spend an hour picking out just the right size, color, and style. Maybe you need sticky notes too! That could even be a separate trip!

3. Light a candle to call the Muse. Spend fifteen minutes sorting through your candle selection to find the perfect scent to match the mood of the scene you are supposed to be working on.

The answer is always Oxford Library, but that doesn’t mean I can’t spend time asking the question.

4. Make a cup of tea. Not only does this put off the inevitable moment when you have to sit down and work, it guarantees a break in an hour when you will have to go to the bathroom.

5. When you get up to go to the bathroom, make more tea. See? It’s an endless cycle.

Please not that my house does NOT look like this.

6. Search for images for your screensaver or Pinterest board to get you into the mood for the scene. Spend fifteen minutes artfully arranging them and/or writing cagey comments about what they represent.

7. Make a playlist of music to inspire your writing. This yields lots of fodder for procrastination: you can spend time making the list, tweeting and blogging about it, and then spend lots of time before you write deciding which songs to listen to.

8. Post a pithy observation about writing on Twitter with the #amwriting hashtag. Then look through the other entries under that hashtag, because it’s all about being a part of the community.

9. Read one sentence of your scene and then decide you need to do more research on an obscure plot point. So it will be more real to you, of course

10. Write a blog post about how to procrastinate. It definitely counts toward your platform as a writer.

Oh, look at that!  My tea is cold.  Time to go make another cup…