The folly of procrastination
For a beginning writer…and maybe even for an established author…one of the biggest challenges is procrastination. Many times I am hit with a fabulous streak of genius and can write until someone or something practically tears my thoughts from my WIP to something else. I love those times. Often these streaks of genius strike in the middle of the night…sometimes early in the morning. But when they do I try to take advantage of that sudden burst of energy and enlightenment.
To procrastinate (proh-kras-tuh-neyt) is simply to put off till tomorrow what you should do today. To delay action. An action that can derail your dreams if you let it take over your writing schedule. Alas, I am guilty of procrastinating, not only in my writing but also in my housework (hey, don’t you find wonderful, excusable reasons not to clean that refrigerator or wash that third load of clothes or sweep the porch one more time after you already swept before the leaves fell). What would be bad about becoming an adult, a responsible parent, would be seeing that your children have learned this art!! Did they learn it from their mom?? Hopefully not.
I was once probably the most organized person to work in an office. I color-coded, I filed each day, I had a mental schedule for each day and for each month. And I kept to that schedule. Always.
Now? I am trying to teach myself to do this, or a portion of this, again. Keeping a written schedule of what I want to accomplish or what needs to be done each day helps….and seeing my writing take form and the characters becoming vibrant is a fabulous thing. I now write at odd and scattered times…but I think this may be my own writing method.
To stop procrastinating we have to be able to take charge of our actions. Try to stick to a plan or at least be willing to take baby steps to organizing time. Just do it and not stop to think about whatever it is you are doing….it needs to get done. Goals will never be reached by procrastination and then there will be no one to blame but yourself.
Today, I wrote….yesterday, I wrote. Tomorrow…..I will write again. This is an important step in my life, to become an author and there is no one who can stop me….but me. I will not allow this to happen.
I procrastinated for many, many years and blamed it on the things going on in my life so I refuse to get back into that rut.
My time is now,
KW
The key is not so much to write a specific number of words every day, but to write SOMETHING every day, even if it’s a letter to your mother or an idea for a story.
Life interferes daily. But as long as I write something every day, I know I’m still on track because I exercised that writing muscle.
Best wishes with your writing!
I agree Anny and I now try to write at some point each day. I haven’t set any specific word count goals…rather I have some days that I have trouble writing a few sentences then others when I don’t seem to find a stopping place. Thank you so much for the comment and keep stopping by!
The key is not so much to write a specific number of words every day, but to write SOMETHING every day, even if it’s a letter to your mother or an idea for a story.
Life interferes daily. But as long as I write something every day, I know I’m still on track because I exercised that writing muscle.
Best wishes with your writing!
I agree Anny and I now try to write at some point each day. I haven’t set any specific word count goals…rather I have some days that I have trouble writing a few sentences then others when I don’t seem to find a stopping place. Thank you so much for the comment and keep stopping by!