As much as I love to write, even with almost ideal surroundings it usually takes me a while to get started unless I have a looming deadline or I'm in that too-rare PUT DOWN WORDS RIGHT NOW!  throe of inspiration.

Obviously, since I wrote for a living for 25 years, I've had to come up with various strategies to compensate for my lack of discipline.

Here's the most recent.



I can't recall how I arrived at this, but most likely it was on one of the rare days when I had the house to myself. When that happens I feel a real pressure not to 'waste' any of my windfall of hours, but of course that's when my Inner Brat kicks up and rebels against Should and I fritter away and faff about and generally waste time (all the while being extremely pissed at myself). ~ The 28 Minute Rule is essentially carrot-and-stick for that mulish brat: "Write for less than a half-hour and then you can go back to staring at the Shiny Distractions." 

It's working, at least for the moment.  *g*

(And if nothing else, sticking to it ensures that you spend at least half your time writing.)

P.S. As I was writing up this post it occurred to me that this idea may have gestated from my fond memories of the 20-minute word wars in the #yuletide IRC channel a few years ago.

If you try this for yourself and it works, let me know!