Whether it's summer or Thanksgiving or Monday, you can come up with a million ways to avoid writing. Author Bruce Elkin has a way of pushing yourself even when you don't want to:

Now I use the twenty-minute test whenever my petulant five-year-old doesn't feel like doing anything difficult that I know will move me closer to a result I care about, such as drafting a new article or writing query letters to editors. I give myself to the task for twenty minutes and watch to see if my mood shifts. Nine times out of ten I keep going...

What makes the twenty-minute test different than other motivational techniques?

It's not manipulative. It's not an attempt to force yourself to write. It's not a trick you play on your five-year-old. It is an experiment that honors your desire to write and the feeling that you are not in the mood. It provides useful information about the source of that mood. On those rare occasions when, in spite of twenty minutes of activity, lethargy still refuses to release its bear hug on you, quit. Go for a walk. Read a book. Watch TV. You won't quit often, just when you need to. So indulge yourself without guilt, confident that the next time around the test will get you moving toward a productive writing session.

Read the rest of it here (PDF).