You Think You're Writing, But You're Not

Writers do a lot of things other than write.  And therein lies the danger - because when you're not writing, YOU ARE NOT WRITING.

Maybe you're thinking about writing.  I walk a lot and muse about my work in progress while doing so, and this is extremely helpful to me as a writer and good for me as a person (although an occasional tripping hazard - situational awareness, people!), but it's not writing.
 
Maybe you're tending to your social media garden, a seemingly necessary task as a 21^st century writer.  Pulling a weed here, posting a blog entry there.  What is this not?  Uh, writing!
 
Maybe you're jotting down a note about a character, the plot, whatever.  Good!  Useful!  Quite Possibly Important!  NOT WRITING.

 
Laptop on lap while watching the game on TV is Most Definitely not writing.
 
All of this stuff - along with eating, sleeping, bathing, Day Job Which Shall Not Be Named, etc. - is not Actual Butt In The Chair writing.  (ABITCW)  That's the only stuff that counts.
 
A hopefully occasional and entirely unavoidable prelude to ABITCW involves staring at a blank screen or an unfinished page.  Well, at least you got your BITC - the AW part should follow shortly.
 
Sure, there will be days when life intervenes and you don't write.  Or you just take a day off.  That happens.  It's sometimes OK, but don't fool yourself.  Don't give yourself credit and a pat on the back for writing when YOU'RE NOT WRITING.  If you want to be a writer:  You. Must. Write.
 
No excuses!  Life is way too short for excuses.
 
We now return you to your regularly scheduled ABITCW.