How to Procrastinate- From an Expert

We all do it. We procrastinate about doing things that maybe we don't want to, but have to do. Things that are complicated and will take over our lives. Things that may be unpleasant. Things that maybe aren't that bad, but well, we just don't feel like doing at the moment.

Sometimes writing and revising are like that. Have to do it, need to do it, don't want to do it. Writers come up with great ways to procrastinate. Here are some of my better ones...

1. My desk is a mess! How can I work with it like that??? Which of course, once you start cleaning, there are papers to go through, dusting, reading scraps of paper with ideas for books that you want to keep because you intend to turn those notes into novels. There's that darn file, drawer, closet, etc. that now need to be cleaned... It's a deadly avalanche of distractions.
2. I need to go shopping because I have to have more... pens, paper, notebooks, cheesy fries, toothpaste, etc. Doesn't matter what it is, you MUST have it.
3. The kitchen I've been meaning to paint all summer... I HAVE to do it NOW because  Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming and I'm having guests, and with three boys, the walls are a bit scruffy looking, and smoke has darkened the color. 
4. I'm not wasting time on the internet, I'm researching for the next novel or two.... 
5. I can get the revisions done in almost no time, and I'm under no deadline. I have plenty of time. 

I'm sure you have your favorites, your good old standbyes. If you're procrastinating, maybe there's an underlying reason. Struggling with this manuscript, I've already gone through it, page by page, editing it on paper because it couldn't be done on my laptop because the revisions included moving chapters around, adding, subtracting, and reworking the entire story. (I wrote it before cell phones were commonplace.) All I have to do now is type in the changes. But as I look at all the edits, add-ins, cross outs, I'm afraid because it's such a mess.

What's weird is that I'm two thirds through; why can't I just buckle down and DO IT? I still love the story, and I love the freshness from the changes. Maybe I'm just tired of working on it.

But I need to get it done.

So, I will make yet another promise to finish it this week. (Yep, broke a few of those promises.) I hope to make it this time, but if I don't, I won't beat myself up. It will get done. And the sooner I get it done, I can start on that new #NaNo project (which I'm doing in January, I'm part of that rebel group I wrote about several posts ago). Finishing it means freedom to move on, to start that new book, to stop being critical of myself, and to send it to my agent.

Check back on Monday and I'll let you know how I did. Today's not over, so I still have time to get some pages done...

Char

There's Always Room For Improvement...

I'm pressed for time this week, so I'm going to admit my 5 biggest flaws; my writing flaws that is.

1.  I hate to revise. I don't mind once, maybe three times, but I hate doing it over and over and over. That's the business though; revise until you, the agent, or the editor are satisfied.

2.  Once I've worked on a novel for about a year, I'm done. I want to move onto something else. Of course I polish and revise and rework, but sometimes I take little breaks in between to work on a new shiny. I'm not one of those people who re-read a certain book every year.

3.  It bothers me when I'm told to cut some aspect of my work-by editor, agent, critique group, etc. that I absolutely love. I rave, rant, clean the house like a crazy person, and procrastinate. Then, I calm down and make the changes. Mostly. Some, I just can't bring myself to do.

4.  I keep writing down new ideas, even though I have so many projects in various states of progress. I have files full of ideas. I want to write them all, but unless I could just write them and let someone else edit them, they won't get written...

5.  If I could, I would just write and sign books at events. I hate doing the PR footwork. A personal assistant would be a dream come true. Would also keep my office clean.

I'm sure I have other faults, but I'm pressed for time. And I don't want to admit to anything else.

Now I have to go back to finishing those hated edits.

Char