These things don’t count as writing.

by Jay Wigley on April 25, 2011

Writers: You already know you should be writing every day. These things don’t count as writing:
Writing marketing copy for your last book
Reading book reviews
Pruning your wish list at Amazon.com
Commenting on blogs about books and/or writing
Researching source material for your new book
Editing what you wrote yesterday
Reading books about how to write
Outlining the plot of the book you want to write
Reading blog posts about writing
Reading great literature
Reading trash literature
Reading biographies of writers you admire
Talking with your editor
Networking with other writers about writing
Shopping for or buying a new journal
Shopping for or buying a new pen
Reading reviewing of journals
Reading reviews of pens
Searching ebay for new journals or pens
Looking for a quiet space where you might write one day
Reading reviews of local coffee shops where you might write one day
Trying out distraction-free writing software
Adding writing to your to-do list
Adding a writing project to your GTD outline
Meditating on how it will feel when you actually do some writing
Discussing how you never write but really really want to with your friend/spouse/therapist
Researching a hack that will make you write everyday even when you don’t feel like it
Reading this blog post

What counts as writing: moving your hand across the paper or keyboard and letting words out

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Copy Other Writers. Start with Alice Munro.

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Sure, there is historical precedent for the National Day of Prayer, all the way back to the Continental Congress, making the practice older than the United States itself. But there’s ......

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This ......

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