Bookending: Using Twitter to Beat Procrastination and Boost Your Writing

Nothing motivates Frank more than a blank page or screen to get around to washing the dishes, sorting the mail and returning calls.  After all that work, he often feels he needs a snack, or perhaps a cup of tea, before he can finally settle down to write. 

Sound familiar?

For some writers, this type of "preparatory procrastination" can be a useful transition to help them shift from outward "doing" to sitting down to write.  For many others, though, procrastination leads them far, far away from the page or screen.

Bookending

Before I became a life coach, I learned a powerful technique to help me get going and stay working when I wanted to write.  My clients now boost their productivity with bookending, and you can, too.

What It Is:

"Bookending" is the simple process of alerting a supportive friend when you begin and when you stop working on a project.  This technique provides us with:

• structure
• a witness to our process
• support

How it works:

Before:  Before I'd sit down to write, I'd make a quick phone call:  "Hi, it's Marla.  I'm working on my piece now...I think I'll be at it for an hour.  I'll call you when I'm through." 

During:  During the work session, even if I was only able to leave a message for my friend, I worked with more focus.  "Gotta' report back after I'm done, and I don't wanna' let him down!" 

After:  When I closed the laptop, I'd give a quick call back:  "Hey...me again.  Finished for today and have goals outlined for tomorrow.  Thanks for being there."

Simple, huh?  If you're bookending with a life coach, you have the support and knowledge that he or she is tracking your progress, holding you accountable and heavily invested in your success.  Bookending with peers builds community and camaraderie. In all forms, bookending works.

Bookending with Twitter

Today's technology enables us to bookend by phone, text message, email or online chat.  Posting to Twitter.com offers writers immediate community and support using microblogging:  --posting short status updates in 140 characters or less. 

Here's a sample thread of bookending posts using Twitter:

@ MarlaBeck  Bookending:  Sitting down to draft blog post.  Plan to work for an hour.

@ MarlaBeck  Going well...getting up for a quick break.  Will check in again b4 resuming writing.

@ MarlaBeck  I'm back.  Writing.

@ MarlaBeck Bookending:  Done!  A solid first draft...will revise tomorrow.  Tks, everyone!

Creating bookending posts ("tweets") on Twitter enables you to update your personal community members--people who are interested enough in you and your updates to click a link to become your "followers"--immediately.  They track your progress and support your work.  Can you see the benefits of using Twitter to communicate with a broad and supportive community, on demand?  

Bookending using Twitter provides one other advantage.  Twitter archives your "tweets," creating a tangible archive of your bookending statements.  Reviewing a list of your bookends over time provides you with a powerful record of your progress towards your writing goals.

Try This

>>Visit www.twitter.com to create a user account.  (Feel free to look me up:  @MarlaBeck)
>>Bookend a writing session with a friend via phone this week. 
>>Once you've begun to create community online, try bookending a work session using Twitter. 

How do you write when you bookend (vs. not)?  What bookending method are you drawn to?    Stop back by and leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas.

Comments

[Dr Carolyn Clansy Miller]

What a great idea, Marla. I haven't used twitter for support in the way you've described...but will begin now!

[Phil Johncock]

Great post. Very useful!

I see a similar bookending process using Twitter happening during teleseminars ... for participants and sometimes presenters.

Thanks!

Phil Johncock
http://twitter.com/PhilJohncock

[Louise]

Marla,

I really like this idea. I followed your LinkedIn answer about tweeting to this blog entry. I too have been wondering what Twitter is really good for, and although I am intrigued by it, I'm also a bit overwhelmed. I can see this being one really good use. I signed up for Twitter but am not using it yet.

So now, since I am supposed to be doing editing instead of messing around with LinkedIn, I am going to bookend the beginning of my editing session right here on this comment! I'm starting to edit right now! ;-)

Louise

[Marla]

Dr. Carolyn,

Thanks for your feedback. I'll look forward to seeing your bookending Tweets on Twitter!

sincerely,
Coach Marla

p.s. - my Twitter ID = @MarlaBeck

[Marla]

Hi Phil,

You mean that teleclass participants & leaders are tweeting during their calls, yes? A very cool use of Twitter's real-time updates!

Thanks for stopping by & see you in the "Twitterverse,"
Coach Marla

[Marla]

Hi Louise,

I'm so happy you clicked over to The Relaxed Writer from LinkedIn.

How did your editing session go? ;)

looking forward to connecting,
Coach Marla

[Rebecca Lafar-Smith]

For me, bookending, while not a new concept is a new phraseology. I'd never heard it called that but think it's a fantastic name. :-) There
are some aspects of bookending that I already do - like announcing chat sessions as they start and finish. Taking it a step further to create accountability for other aspects of my workday is a fantastic idea.

What sort of feedback do you find you get from bookending on twitter? Do your followers acknowledge and encourage or are these bookending tweets mostly ignored?

In the past I've done invitational tweets/plurks announcing a timed writing session and inviting other writers to join me. They've been very popular. I should get back to those. I'll have to trial other bookending for myself as well and see what sort of results I get. Thank you! :-)