You know those Ikea make-it-yourself furniture kits, the ones that contain a plastic bag filled with screws and wingnuts and those goofy-butt thingamabobs that require hex keys? Picture in your mind dumping that bag onto the floor. See the mess?

Yep. That's what you're getting here at Writer Off the Leash today. No, not a new bookshelf. I'm talking a heaping pile of assorted writerly hardware-type stuff all heaped into a mess for you to sort out. Ready?

10 Completely Unrelated Writing Hacks

• Don't stall out when you're writing by taking a detour into researching something you're not sure of. Just highlight the part and go back to it later, otherwise you'll hijack your daily word count.

• Say no. Go ahead. Open your lips and force air past your vocal chords. Don't treat your writing like a hobby. You don't have to be queen of the carpool or king of the laundry pile. Cut out extraneous activities from your schedule. Do not feel guilty for pursuing your passion.

• Before you start writing new material, re-read the page where you left off to refresh your memory and ground yourself back into the story.

• Your story doesn't stop when you close your laptop. Think about your story throughout the day, even when you're not writing. You just might come up with a new plot twist or a character quirk.

• Read your work out loud. You might want to do this when no one is around, though.

• Read. Good writers are readers.

• You don't have to write your story in order. You can hop around.

• Ignore the naysayers, or punch them in the head if you must. Ain't nobody got time for negativity.

• Set realistic goals but stretch that realism now and then. For example, once you've mastered writing 700 words a day, go for 800, then 900 and so on.

• Dark chocolate. 'Nuff said.