Professional vs Amateur Writing

Being a top level procrastinator, one of my biggest struggles is finding the time to write. I always have a million and one things that need doing, and writing often gets put onto the 'Tomorrow' list. So it was with interest that I started reading Stephen Pressfield's book 'The War of Art.' Mr Pressfield puts forward that all of us face an ominous 'Resistance,' a force from within that has the sole objective of doing what's really important (not necessarily what's urgent, a very important distinction).

One of my favourite sections so far is where the book compares the Amateur vs the Professional. After making the point that all of us are professionals in the sense that we work and (hopefully) get paid in our day jobs, the book lists the qualities that define us as professionals, the first three of which are as follows:

1. Professionals show up every day.
2. Professionals show up no matter what.
3. Professionals stay on the job all day.

The book goes on to list other qualities, but those first three made me think. I went to work today at my day job, exchanging 8 hours of my life for a paycheck. I felt completely lousy this morning, having spent the previous evening sick as a dog and getting very little sleep, but I turned up anyway. My boss expects me to be there from 9am until 5pm, so that's what I do. 

So how come as a writer, it doesn't seem to quite work the same? There are plenty of days I don't 'show up' to write, and it only takes the smallest excuse or distraction for me to not just quit writing, but fail to even start. To cut a long story short, if I were my boss, as a writer, I'd have fired myself a long time ago. 

That's why this is going to be a short blog post tonight. Sure, it's been a long day, and the idea of crashing out on the sofa watching TV sounds most appealing. But the boss has had a word with me. There's work to be done.