Excuses and Motivation

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Confession time! Besides blog posts and journal entries, I haven't written anything in over a month. A month! My editor returned her notes to me right after Memorial Day weekend, and I haven't even opened the document. I feel as if spider webs are growing on my laptop.

*sigh*

At first I came up with loads of excuses...my son's graduation, end of school year banquets, hosting a swim party with 35 freshmen. My list of excuses was looooong. But really, there are no excuses. I just haven't been motivated.

But! I'm going on a mini writing retreat with a couple of friends soon, and I'm looking forward to quiet time to open up that document and get back to work. I'm motivated to be motivated :)

In honor of my long list of excuses, and my desire to motivate myself to be motivated, I'll share some quotes with you:

Excuses

"Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." -- Don Wilder and Bill Rechin (ouch!)

"There is always a perfectly good excuse, always a reason not to. The hardest freedom to win is the freedom from one's excuses." -- Robert Brault

"You can make excuses or you can get the job done, but you can't do both." -- Hap Holmstead, The Biggest Loser

Motivation

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -- Lou Holtz

"Motivation will almost always beat mere talent." -- Norman Ralph Augustine

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing--that's why we recommend it daily." -- Zig Ziglar

Have you been consistently writing? Or are you like me, and haven't opened a document in a while? Do you have a long list of excuses? Are you sufficiently motivated? Please share!

Antidotes for Excuses

There are a couple of writing tasks I haven't completed yet. There's no excuse, but I'll offer some anyway:

• It's summer and the kids are home from school
• I can't write at a water park--my laptop will get wet
• I can't write at the beach--the sand will damage my laptop, or the wind will rustle my paper
• How can I concentrate on revisions with ten 14-year-olds in our pool?
• How can I concentrate on plotting when I have two 11-year-olds playing Wii Sports?
• Have I mentioned it's summer and the kids are home from school?

I realize that the work will not get done unless I sit down and do it. No one else can take the blame. And there's no reason I can't put my butt-in-chair and write for 15-30 minutes at the beginning or end of each day.

If you're like me, and writing has taken a back seat, here are some great quotes about making excuses. I'll call them antidotes for excuses:

"Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." -- Don Wilder

"Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." -- George W. Carver

"Don't make excuses, make something incredible happen in your life right now." -- Greg Hickman

"There aren't nearly enough crutches in the world for all the lame excuses." -- Marcus Stroup

"No one ever excused his way to success." -- Dave Del Dotto

"Success is a tale of obstacles overcome, and for every obstacle overcome, an excuse not used." -- Robert Brault

"I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else." -- Benjamin Franklin

Ouch! I think I'd better get to work.

Have you been diligent about writing this summer? And do you have a favorite excuse to use when you haven't been writing? Or am I the only one using lame excuses?

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