The Fine Art of Procrastination

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

No one ever said writing was easy. Forming a cogent and interesting story, creating a believable and fascinating cast of characters who are real people instead of cardboard cutouts, choosing the exact right language, the precise words that give just the nuance you want... None of it is especially difficult, but believe me, none of these are the toughest work of writing.

Let's face it, sometimes the writing goes well. Words flow from your fingertips, paragraphs form almost of their own volition, chapters grow like beautiful, perfect weeds. Wonderful when it does, but sadly it doesn't happen often enough. Most of the time writing is work - sometimes easy work, sometimes not, but we have to make the words conform to our vision.

And then there are the days when our work simply shuts down. Getting the right word is comparable to pulling it from glue. Then you must pull out the next one, and the next, but even that is preferable to the 'I don't cares.'

The 'I don't cares' are not writers' block, nothing so simple as that. You know where the story is going, perhaps sentences and paragraphs are taking vague shape in your mind, but you just don't want to write. You sit at the computer, determined that today you will really work and break this strange stasis, but you sit at the computer and suddenly remember that you need to clean out that kitchen cabinet which has sat unmolested for the last decade. Or go visit your next-door neighbor from three houses ago. Or finish the baby blanket you started to make for your nephew, that same nephew who starts high school next week.

Unfortunately, this is more than simple procrastination. The internet has taken a lot of blame for distracting writers away from their self-appointed task as a wordsmith, but I cannot help but wonder how much is cause and how much is symptom. Same with the kitchen cabinet, the long-ago neighbor, the baby blanket, or any other of a hundred million things.

Nora Roberts, one of the most (if not the) most prolific novelists in the world says wisely "Just write the book, even if it's garbage. You can fix garbage. You can't fix a blank page." Very true, and oftentimes such a determined attitude works. During these (hopefully rare) times when it doesn't, though, no matter how much you write down, it's not only garbage, but definitely garbage that can't be fixed.

So what do we do when these black clouds of utter immobility engulf us? That is not a rhetorical question; I would really like to know, but at the moment I must run. It's been way too long since I got a Q-Tip and cleaned under the gasket on my dishwasher...

Displacement Activity

I am not working on Pavane for Miss Marcher today. Instead, I have swept the balcony, cleaned the kitchen drain, done the extra shopping with a comprehensive list from Dear Hubby who is teaching as usual, talked to several members of my family at great length.

Although Pavane is close to first draft completion, I have sought displacement activity at random for weeks. Today is no different, but I had similar difficulties last week. Also not different: work commitments, family commitments, special requests, time of year: in other words, any excuse.

With eleven books published, a twelfth should be straightforward but this one has always caused trouble, perhaps because the subject matter and historical period are more challenging than others I have undertaken. 

The characters are no problem, they have behaved admirably from Page One. If I wanted to write a character-driven story, I would be done and dusted. But, from the beginning, the other story elements make writing a bit harder. Some of those are the period research although this historical period is well-documented.

That can prove to be a barrier to creative narrative: you dare not question, dispute or fail the historical authorities. Even if the focus of the story is not the accepted written history, many readers will expect the appropriate tributes and markers. When I first mentioned I was writing a novel set in this period of American history, one colleague responded "You had better be on the right side of history then."

The "right side of history" is entirely dependent on which side the consumer of your fictional tale prefers: another good excuse to delay finishing the book.

The historical writer, Ursula Renee, has many good suggestions for researching historical material. The trouble is getting involved in research can be an end in itself. Many writers are notoriously easy to sidetrack with the shiny baubles of getting the traveling fashions,  men's hats, vehicles, soap products of the era right.

All of these distractions are what the screenwriter and author of The War of Art, Steven Pressfield, calls "resistance". You know you are resistant to finishing your book when finding room on your desk for that new pencil holder much more compelling than working on that tricky scene where your protagonists have to come to grips with the conflict between their knowledge and their desires.

I have recommended Pressfield's book to writers, actors, artists of all kinds. The gist of the book is simple: "Do your work." Accept that you have a job to do and do it. Manage your job as if you are the employee, hold yourself responsible.

I have set a deadline to finish. The only one I can blame if I don't meet that deadline is the same person who is, at this very moment, doing something/anything to put off doing the work.

Procrastination

By Fran McNabb 

I’ll do that tomorrow.

I don’t have time today. Maybe tomorrow.

Today? Oh, no. I don’t have time.

Have you ever caught yourself putting things off until “tomorrow” only because you don’t want to tackle the task or you have no idea how to handle an issue? Of course you have. We’re all humans and all humans procrastinate—some more than others.

Procrastination is the art of putting things off. I call it an “art” because we sometimes have to become creative in coming up with excuses not to do something. I realize that sometimes we don’t have to be creative at all. We can simply look at something that needs to be done and say, “Nope, not now.”

Right now I’m falling into the second category. Seven months ago my husband and I had carpet pulled up in our den and replaced with tile. At the same time I picked out new carpet for my office and bedrooms, but when it came time to actually install it, I said, “Nope, not now.” Replacing carpet seems like a simple thing to do, but the idea of taking everything out of closets and, gulp, cleaning out my office so the workmen can put down the carpet has absolutely debilitated me.

I know it has to be done. I want it to be done, but I can’t face doing it today and those todays have grown into seven months. There is always something else that I find to do. I stand at my office door and see shelves of books that I can’t get rid of. How can I throw away pages and pages of words that have given me so much pleasure? Yes, I have a Kindle now, but those old books are my friends. I know I have to get rid of some of them or at least move them out and rearrange them, but, gosh, what a task.

The closet is another issue. Throwing out clothes that are two sizes too small should be an easy task, but by throwing out clothes that I no longer can wear means I’m admitting I will never get back into those sizes. Those small sizes certainly aren’t my friends as my books are, but it’s easier just to let them hang in the back of the closet than to do something about them.

So, what projects have you put off lately? Is it cleaning out the refrigerator? Sending out thank you notes? Starting your Christmas shopping early? Calling an old friend who has lost a loved one?

We procrastinate about all kinds of tasks. Today, I’m going to walk into my office and deal with some of my old books. (That was a hard sentence to write.) I’m going to face my task head on! My closets? Well, maybe tomorrow.

Fran McNabb lives on the Gulf Coast on a quiet bayou harbor, and she’ll be the first to tell you she’d rather sit in her sunroom and watch the activity on the water rather than do mundane tasks like cleaning closets. She writes light romances and uses her beloved coastline as the setting in many of them.  Visit her at www.FranMcNabb.com or mcnabbf@bellsouth.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE'S MY VACATION?

As the summer moves along swiftly toward the beginning of a new school year, it seems people everywhere are talking about vacations they've taken – they speak of Disney Land, Virginia Beach, an Alaskan cruise, Colorado, the Cayman Islands, Turkey, even Cuba.

I listen with envy – where's my vacation? I'm a grown woman, for goodness sake, perfectly capable of planning and arranging to take a real vacation. Yet my one trip to Disney World was in July 1976 during the Bicentennial celebration. I don't know that I've ever seen Virginia Beach; if so, I don't remember. I certainly never saw any portion of Alaska. We made a trip from Texas to Yellowstone National Park – almost 25 years ago. We once drove to Branson, Missouri. At the time, I'm thinking we were the youngest people in the city. If we went back today, we might fit in just right, age-wise.

Are we over-due for a real vacation or what? It's not that I don't have plenty of vacation days to take from my law firm job. Where have they gone? Not to the Caymans, that's for sure. I sometimes spend a week with my Mom who lives across the country. Other days are used for writer's conferences or family events – weddings, family reunions, and the like. Of course, I use some days to stay home and write – especially now that I'm faced with a very real book deadline.

To tell you the truth, I'm not longing to leave home and fly to some faraway place on vacation – I mostly wish I were longing to do so. If I could snap my fingers and magically be standing before Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon I'd do it. Do I want to see foreign countries before I die? I'm not sure – it seems like a lot of trouble to go through and a large unnecessary expense.

Why doesn't the joy of vacation out-weigh the hassle of getting there for me? Is it because I'm a homebody at heart? Or because I'm just as happy sitting home and reading books? Or my thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch upbringing won't allow me to spend the money? Or all of the above? Seriously, I keep saying – in a very vague way – that we need to get out and see the U.S.A.

I really ought to make plans now – because time flies – tempus fugit as my mother-in-law liked to say. She's not with us anymore – her time to travel has passed. Which ought to send me a very real message.

Do you love to travel? Where's your favorite place to go?

Mystery author Kay Finch is currently writing her new Bad Luck Cat Mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country to be published by Berkley beginning in 2015. Her Klutter Killer mystery, Relative Chaos, features a professional organizer who finds a dead body in a hoarder's garage. Kay lives in a Houston, Texas suburb with her husband, two rescue dogs and a cat. Visit her web site at www.kayfinch.com.