Beware Excusitis – the Failure Disease

Earlier this year, I caught a dangerous virus. Not one of those computer ones, mind, but something just as scary. This disease is easy to catch and hard to shake off. Symptoms include sapping of morale, veritable plagues of self-doubt, and in extreme cases, death of ambition.

I’m talking about Excusitis – the failure disease, and if you don’t take positive steps to cure yourself, you risk losing not only your dream, but the desire to even pursue it.

We all have that little voice in the back of our mind that can justify any failure. This would never have happened if it hadn’t been for… If I’d only known about this two weeks ago… etc.

Nobody likes to lose, so we learn to tell ourselves whatever half-truth (or downright lie) we need to hear that will take the sting out of failure and put responsibility on something (or someone) else.

Of course, that’s not to say we should always blame ourselves. There are plenty of times when events really do conspire against us, but the trouble is, every time we lay the blame elsewhere we open the door to Excusitis and believe you me, once that little rotter gets its size sixteen boot across the threshold, you’re in trouble.

Take writing for example. Ever had to cancel your writing time because of a last-minute crisis at work kept you out late, or the traffic was bad? Maybe one of the kids got sick, or family came to visit. Perfectly acceptable reasons one and all, but have you ever noticed how one valid excuse always seems to lead into another? Before you know it the week’s gone by and you’ve done no new writing at all. But that’s okay. You’ll catch up over the weekend, right?

Only you don’t.

Something else comes up, then something else after that, and with every new obstacle the decision to put off writing gets easier. You stop going to your local writing group. After all, there’s no harm in missing a meeting or two. Besides, it’s not like you’ve got anything new to show them, right?

A few months back, Excusitis took such a hold on me that I virtually stopped writing altogether. Sure, I was busy with the book launch, my blog, and trying to keep on top of everything else in my life, but that's my point. Valid excuses are all well and good, but they don't get the job done.

Once Excusitis burrows its way into your brain, it sits there, poisoning your dream by providing you with perfect-sounding reasons for why it was okay to miss that goal you set yourself. And without you ever realizing what's happening, it wraps itself around your ambition and slowly, gently squeezes the life out of it.

Some people never recover. They become bitter, angry even. Where they once gave fellowship and support to fellow writers, they offer discouragement. "Publishing's a lottery...Who needs an agent anyway..." They tear people down instead of building them up. They mock the work of other, more successful writers, relishing in the faults in that bestselling book, rather than studying it to see what the author did right.

Luckily for me, my old gran had a cure. It has a 100% success rate too (though repeat prescriptions are advised), and being the nice chap that I am, I’m going to share it here. My old gran called it the “Don’t just stand there, do something, you great dozy twannock!’ remedy, but a more regular term for it would be:

‘Take immediate action.’

The ‘immediate’ part is the key. It’s no good telling yourself you’ll write later. Just stop whatever you’re doing, grab some paper and jot down some words. They could be potential titles, a few ‘What ifs?’ or even some character notes. It really doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you do some writing, right then and there. Think of it as jump-starting your dream.

Is this a one-dose cures all deal? Absolutely not. You need to take repeated immediate action several times a day, for as long as it takes, but just as putting off writing gets easier the more you do it, so does the cure, and if you keep at it you’ll soon be back in the swing of things.

I'm back on track now, but you never fully recover from Excusitis, so I'm keeping a sharp eye out for signs of a relapse.

Now you know the danger signs, the next time that little voice in your head tells you it can’t hurt to skip your planned writing time once in a while, or that you needn’t bother sending out that story or query letter because… just think of my old gran’s encouraging words, reach for that notepad and start writing.

One day, your dream will thank you.

My name's Jon. I have Excusitis, but I'm not going to let it stop me writing today.

How about you?

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Born in England, Jon Gibbs, now lives in New Jersey, where he’s a member of several writers' groups, including the New Jersey chapter of SCBWI and The Garden State Horror Writers. He is the founder of The New Jersey Authors’ Network and FindAWritingGroup.com.

Jon's debut novel, Fur-Face (a Middle Grade fantasy about unusual friendships, unlikely alliances, and wanting to fit in), was published in eBook form by Echelon Press in 2010 (click here to see the trailer).

His presentation/workshop, The Fine Art of Self Promotion is based on entries from his popular online journal, An Englishman in New Jersey.

Jon can usually be found hunched over the computer in his basement office. One day he hopes to figure out how to switch it on.