How do you deal with procrastination?

Using your old Mac is a good idea.
I write in the guest bedroom on an old computer that has nothing on it except my files. I don't play music and I keep the blinds shut. My computer would go onto the Net, but I deliberately haven't hooked it up. The Net computer is in the living room and I usually only allow myself a few minutes in the morning to see if the world's still out there, then my lunch break and/or at the end of the afternoon when I've got my writing done.

Procrastination is a universal problem. Funny, how when you face sitting down to write, cleaning the toilet starts to sound inviting? I think it's our fear our failure that keeps us away from the writing. (If you never try, you can never fail.) Fear also keeps us from stretching as much as we are capable of.

Good Luck with the Mac.

Procrastination is the reason I've gained 10 lbs in the past 4 months! Every time I sit down to write, I get this little thought, maybe I should have some celery and peanut butter before I start. Down the stairs I go to get my snack. And, once I finish that and sit back down to write, I think, maybe I should have some iced tea and one of those oatmeal cookies I saw on the counter when I went to get the celery. Back down the stairs I go. And, once I finish the cookie, I think, maybe I need to get one more cookie so I can get the cookie thing off my mind and concentrate on my writing. Back down the stairs I go. Finally, I sit down in front of the computer, finish the cookie and thats when I notice that my ice tea is almost gone ...

You have hit the cookie on the head. If you can't plan, two things happen - you don't get your book finished and you put on weight. Unfortunately, in my experience, it is hard to find a 'normal' day, but if I am at home with nothing else I've been told to do, I make sure I don't move from the computer once I sit down at it. I have my music, computer, jug of water and recliner chair all together - then it's willpower, or more precisely won't power. But once I get into my work, the story takes over and time passes without me wanting to stop.

So perhaps your weight will be an indication of how interesting the story is.

Sometimes I know I just have to put the book aside and come back later. I need a breather.

Two years ago I read this book. I loved it and loved the writting style. But I then felt so inadequate as a writer, I didn't work on my book for over six months.

But eventually the itch came back and I got into my writting again. What I learned from that is not to read while I write.

I just wait for it to go away. It always does. Then it comes back again. It's a vicious cycle.

I put off dealing with it.

By writing.

I'll worry about it tomorrow.





Sorry, couldn't resist.

I don't procrastinate about writing, much, but I do seem to go through phases where I'm hyperfertile and can't hardly seem to stop (usually right around the time I'm most likely to get pregnant, oddly enough) alternating with weeks when I do very little, poke around, maybe edit here and there. If I were doing this for a living or on a deadline it might be different, but for now it just seems to be, so I just kind of accept it. Procrastinating about PUBLISHING, on the other hand--I've got years of reasons why I can't write letters to editors and agents. How in hell do people send out 140 query letters at a time?! Utterly baffled by that.

Mumut said:

So perhaps your weight will be an indication of how interesting the story is.

Click to expand...

You made me laugh Mumut. Yes, my goal is to write only interesting stories from now on.

Although the joke was already made about putting it off for tomorrow, that isn't that far off from the truth for me.

I work in a home office, so it is easy to get to my desk before I go to sleep. I make a detailed To-Do list before I go off to bed and include all the things I SHOULD have gotten done today. the next day I have to cross or check off things as I get them done.

I guess it helps to have the no nonsense instructions right in front of me in the morning.

I'm procrastinating right now, but probably because I'm distracted by the fact that my younger sister is at the Provincials Dart Tournament and I'm not. Though, if I wan't to stop procrastinating I have a spiral bound notebook that I write absolutely anything that comes to mind, even if it's something like complaining about my back hurting. I'll write about anything just to get the words started. Once I get warmed up, I find it's easy to switch over to my WIP.

I'm a big procrastinator too, so I probably shouldn't offer advice. But hey, this is the Internet so I'll offer advice anyway. Here's some things you could try:

• Work from an outline so you already have some idea where you're going.
• At the end of each session, make some notes to yourself on what needs to happen in the next scene.
• Re-read the previous day's work to get you in the mood - at the very least it will get your butt in the chair.
• Re-arrange your work area so there are fewer distractions
• If you work on a laptop, try taking it somewhere, like outside, to a library, to a coffee shop, etc.

I post on internet forums.

One of the ways I deal with procrastination is to recharge the batteries once or twice a year at a writer's conference. I just returned from Omaha where I attended the mystery writer's conference, Mayhem in the Midlands. I got to meet a lot of fellow writers and talk shop with them. One writer I met had her first novel published in 2003 and is now on book number twelve!!

There's nothing like seeing what your peers are doing to light a fire under you. If you've never attended a writer's conference, by any and all means, Go!

The easiest way is to just change your meaning of the word 'procrastination' to 'research'.