Intenational Besteslling author M.J. Rose has written six novels and two non fiction books. Her most recent novel is The Delilah Complex, the second novel in her series about NYC sex therapist Dr. Morgan Snow. The first novel in the series, The Halo Effect was an Anthony Award finalist. Rose also teaches a class on marketing for authors, runs the Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory blogs and runs Authorbuzz.com - the first marketing service for authors. So you wouldn't think she would have much to say on the topic of procrastination, being the overachiever that she is, but she does.

By. M.J. Rose

1. Don't Write

If you want to write but just can't seem to get your novel finished, don't despair. You're not alone.

For years I wanted to write fiction.

I had a million ideas.

But I couldn't get past the first ten pages. Two dozen first ten pages as a matter of fact.

I'd read far too many books on "how to write a novel," had tried hundreds of writer's exercises and followed far too much advice much too seriously.

A quick search at Amazon.com lists over 18,000 books on writing. More than 2000 just on writing literature and fiction alone.

Overwhelmingly the authors who penned those tomes said: just sit down and write every day. Even if nothing comes out, even if all you write about is last night's dinner, even if you record your dreams, just write.

Guess what? Just sitting down and writing will get you writing, but it will get you writing a journal, not necessarily a novel. My head was so filled with the pressure to write, that I wasn't thinking straight. I wasn't looking for a process, I wasn't discovering a path. I wasn't immersed in my imagination. I wasn't in touch with the feelings and conflicts of my characters I felt compelled -- but incompetent -- to put down on paper.

I even went to a therapist to discuss the writing block. Is it a writing block if you've never even gotten started writing?

2. To Bring Your Character to Life - Live with Her

One day the good doctor made an outrageous suggestion. "Why don't you bring your main character with you to the next session? I'd like to meet her." He wasn't being sarcastic, but sincere.

Except I had no idea what he meant. And when I asked him to explain, he did the typical therapist thing: refused to answer and instead used the Nike tag line on me: Just do it.

During the six days until our next session, I thought about his request often. I wondered if I did bring her, what she'd wear, what she'd want to talk about and what she'd say to him.

Without my even realizing it, my imagination was engaged. My character began to have a life of her own. She came with me the next week. It was awkward at first to speak for her, but I did.

That next year she continued in therapy with me. The more I talked to my therapist about her issues and her conflicts the clearer her story became and the stronger became my need to tell it. I'd leave those sessions brimming with her thoughts and feelings, so impatient to write them down, I'd scribble notes during the cab ride back to my office.

Writing my novel happened without me knowing it.

What I finally understood was that you can't just stop procrastinating and then sit down and just write the damn book. Not even seasoned novelists go from one novel to the next without down time. And the process they describe that goes on in between books by another name sounds a lot like procrastination.

That's because procrastination is necessary. It's important.

3. Waste Time.

Now, for weeks, even months before I start a new novel, I don't write a word. Rather I work on my main character's scrapbook. The very process of collecting her preferred poems, swatches of her favorite colors, and petals from the flowers she grows gives me time to find her - -in other words, procrastinating.

I collect the ticket stubs for a performance of the Metropolitan Opera that she went to, a postcard from her mother's first trip to Europe, a piece of the red and white string on the pastry box from her grandmother's apartment: it's all in the scrapbook.

And only when I've found all the knickknacks of her life and I've done a fair amount of procrastinating do I even think about sitting down to write. But I still hold back. (You know what they say about how waiting makes it better? It does.)

I do a two-page outline [of the novel] with one line describing the main action in each chapter. No details. I see a book like a journey. I like knowing where I'm going to end up before I set forth. It changes like crazy in the writing, but the outline keeps me from getting stuck. Then, I revise like a madwoman. I love revising. If I didn't have a deadline on my contracts, I'd never finish.

I believe that you need to live with a story and its main characters for a long time and discover as much as you can about them and their world before you actually put fingers to the keyboard.