What ever you do, don't read this post.

Couldn't resist, right? But it's more than just a tricksy headline. Are you sure you really haven't got better things to do? Something more constructive?

Chances are if you're reading this blog you consider yourself a creative – someone who produces stuff. I certainly like to think of myself like that. But here's a wake-up call – how many novels do you read compared to how many you write? How many TV shows do you watch compared to how many you produce? How many paintings do you enjoy versus how many you paint? When you do a balance sheet like that it doesn't look good.

I know it's a little unfair – culture is far easier to consume than it is to create - but it's sobering to think of it in those terms. You can imagine Picasso's, Chopin's or Shakespeare's account looking a little more healthier than ours.

You have a choice – chances are you've consumed more than enough stories and material to last you a lifetime – and everyone and everything is gunning for a little more of your attention – here's some tips for keeping the wolves of consumption at bay.

Buy a Netbook, not an iPad

You see a keyboard on that oversized iPhone? Me neither. And there's a reason for that – it's designed for internet potatoes. Compulsive creators need something to write with – you press much more on that screen other than the 'one click order' button and you'll be demented in minutes.

Take a notebook, not a novel, to bed

Rather than reading to relax, try writing to relax. Half an hour with a pencil before you go to sleep with no pressure to produce anything will actually get your creative juices flowing.

Buy a Blackberry, not an iPhone (or HTC)

Same reason for not buying an iPad – believe me, I've tried typing stuff on those little screens – even texting is a drag.

Cancel your cable TV

You know it makes sense. You can always catch those 'must see' shows on DVD if you must see – even then, you'd be better working on your own teleplay.

In truth, if you still haven't finished your manuscript you should cancel everything until you have.

Sort out that create/consume balance. You've only got one life to live.

Anybody got any other choices a compulsive creator should make?

Don't let your rituals kill your creativity

You probably have a private space to write, somewhere quiet, a favourite lap-top or pen and notebook, a particular brand of coffee you drink whilst writing, a favoured plotting process, a particular time of day for writing, a particular numbers of hours for doing it, a word count to adhere to.

You can already see how easy it would be to upset the above writing routine.

We all have mechanisms to get us in the mood for writing, we'd be foolish not to. Real-life crowds in our writing time and space and if we're not careful will squeeze it to nothing. We have to be vigilant and keep our writing time and tools sacred, but it's easy for these support mechanisms to become crutches that we can't live without, and in the extreme actually inhibit our writing.

The key is to focus on flexibility, not rigid systems – here are some things to look out for and ideas on achieving a more flexible approach to the craft.

Environment

Noise and distractions are anathema for writing, but if you demand complete silence that's going to limit the opportunities and places for doing it. Don't let noise get in your way, invest in some headphones and some un-invasive music – even better go somewhere noisier so it all becomes background and less intrusive. I spent this lunchtime writing in a café – quite possibly the noisiest place I've ever worked but due to the generality of the noise it faded to nothing once immersed in my writing.

Location

Learn how to write anywhere – writing isn't something you do when you have the time in the right place, it's something you are.

Tools

Don't just have one favoured tool you have to do your writing on, have a whole suite of weapons at your disposable – laptop, netbook, notebook (both kinds) etc. Carry your work on an USB stick so you can work on any computer anywhere in the world, carry a laptop/netbook/notebook (both kinds) with you wherever you go so if the car breaks down you can crack on with the WIP. There can be no excuses.

Process

You can get into a heated debate about pants vs plots but real writers do both. Brick-walled whilst pantsing through your draft? Get the damned index cards out and plot. The sterility of plotting driving you insane? Then just pants the thing. Process is a means to the end, and shouldn't be the end itself.

Time

I used to think that if I didn't have at least four hours of writing time it was pointless starting. I then used to think that if I didn't have at least an hour's worth of writing time it was pointless starting. Now if I get ten minutes, I write. Anytime. Anywhere.

General

Don't limit yourself to your WIP – sometimes you can get exhausted with it or have some other ideas that need exercising – write a short story, start a plan for WIP2, work on a blog-post, your synopsis or query letter. Failing all that, do some writing exercises. If you really feel you can't do anything then just write down ten observations of the place you find yourself in. It still counts.

This is what we are. This is what we do.

The Scene Deck – a story-building technique

E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel marks the difference between Story – what happens, and Plot – why it happens. This is a useful distinction for writers. The amount of invention necessary to facilitate a novel can be overwhelming – characters, characterisation, plot, arc(s), settings, back-story – not to mention all the collateral invention of details and elements that breathe life into the story-world – but worse than all that, you have to tie it together with a compelling narrative.

You could just pants your way through and hope you come out with something meaningful at the end, or you could divide and conquer and produce what's necessary one bit at a time – either way this technique should prove useful – and it relies on Forster's distinction.

I've previously outlined how classifying ideas can be a great aid in capturing them quickly in a way that can be of use later – but this technique is all about Scenes. Here's what you need.

The Tools

If you're old-school then you need a packet of record cards, or a post-it block, or both. If you prefer to work entirely on your PC you could use this great piece of free software, or if you're a Mac obsessive, you've probably already got it covered. I use both the analogue and digital options – the last thing I need is excuses and sometimes a change of tools can freshen things up.

The Idea

Story is what happens, not why it happens, and freed from the obligation of justifying a scene to the plot or characters it's a hell of a lot easier to come up with them – everything counts – past experiences and memories, dreams, things you've heard talked about at work, things you've heard on the bus, things you'd like to happen to you or you hope to make happen, things you completely invent – everything should be considered a candidate and everything should be captured on a card. This should be a fun and liberating process and can kick start a novel, and the great thing about it is, you don't need to worry if the ideas are appalling – you can always burn the cards later – but you need to get everything down.

The Story

Without plot, you can now create a whole multitude of stories by arranging the cards in any order – you can leave scenes out, have multiple story threads, you may even think of more scenes as you play (and you must write them down on a card before anything else). Like the scenes themselves, give these emerging stories time – so the MC has sex with Elvis before flying to the moon - ridiculous, right? Or is it? Think about it.

The Plot

If there's anything you like you can start working out the 'why', knowing you've already nailed the 'what'. Some sequences of scenes may suggest a natural consequence e.g. MC has affair -> MC marriage falls apart - and as you start weaving plots round the sequences some scenes that originally seemed lame may take on a new significance.

So what's in it for the pantsers? Well, if you get to the end of the draft and it's atrocious, break down all your scenes into a story deck and re-shuffle.

A new-born idea is delicate and in danger of being lost for a number of reasons. A lot of things can get in the way – don't let it be your process.

Stop obsessing about publication, start obsessing about writing

Getting published is the Holy Grail for most writers – it is the end to which we all aspire – but why? Will that mean we are better writers? Will we be happier? Will we be able to give up our day jobs and move out to the Tuscan villa?

No, no, and no.

Publication will give a certain amount of validation to your work – there's no question that strangers at parties, family members and let's face it, those we share our beds with, will take our writing much more seriously if we get published. So we may win a few cigars off friends, but that's about the most we can expect.

If we look hard enough we'll see that publication is no sure-fire guarantee of success, or that we'll get another book published, or even that our first will stay published - it's also no guarantee of happiness and it's certainly not the end of anything – just the beginning of something else.

So what's a poor unpublished writer to do?

Learn to love the journey, the act of writing itself, irrespective of what will come of it. Make our goal not getting published, but to write the best damn novel/story/play/poem we possibly can, and forget everything else.

Because the truth is, the most likely reason we're not published is not that we haven't got an agent, or our query letter isn't intriguing enough, or we don't have enough twitter followers, or that most people just watch TV these days, or that nobody has bothered to notice – it's because we're simply not good enough.

You see, you can't change those other things – but your writing? You can make that anything you want.

So let's start by making it brilliant.