The Dangers of Procrastination

Call this particular blog a cautionary tale.  I completed a novel for NaNoWriMo back in November and it has been mentioned extensively in this blog.  For most of the next two months I did very little editing before jumping in feet-first in January.  As usual I was fairly happy with what I had written:  generally speaking I only change words and restructure sentences during the editing process.  After two-and-a-half edits, I was ready to publish.  I styled and began the upload process.  Herein lies the problem; due to the poor winter weather I have been unable to venture out and get everything done at once.  I have to travel to the public library in order to achieve a suitable internet connection.  I first began production of the books nearly two weeks ago, and while I completed the e-book in two sittings—I plan to redo the cover at some point—the paperback remains in the queue, with a cover that also needs to be edited amongst numerous other items on the checklist.  This experience has taught me that my focus needs to be on producing and promoting product in a timely manner.  Yes, the book needs to be a quality product, but it shouldn’t be a burden that consumes too much extra thought outside of giving the finished item some promotional muscle.   Lesson learned.

Baby Blue

Yesterday morning, I contemplated not getting out of bed.  Oh, I would have had to eventually—I require food like everyone else—but it was rainy, and cold, and the sun was nowhere near ready to come out.  Finally, though, I had to do it.  Sometimes in life we delay the inevitable, and no one is better at procrastination than I am.  Laundry won’t do itself.  Someone had to vacuum.  Someone had to answer my emails, none of which are ever important.  At any rate, procrastination will never help me get another book written, though it does feel odd to be waiting for NaNoWriMo to start rather than writing on my own schedule.  That’s the biggest change.

Procrastination

Throughout my life I have been a pretty horrible procrastinator.  In school I would complete assignments, but not before putting them off to the last possible minute.  I didn’t even mind sitting up half the night before I always felt like I was doing great work under pressure.  I also tend to get my second wind around midnight, which makes no sense.  That’s when most people are asleep and resting for the next day.  Procrastination continued throughout graduate school but lessened; when you are only enrolled in three classes a semester you have less of an excuse for it.  Now I find it creeps into my writing as I do things to delay finishing chapters and even sentences.   I think the expression, “familiarity breeds contempt”, applies here.   The longer we spend with our own work, the more our interest in it dims.  We have spent hours, days, even weeks and months perfecting until we are sick of it.  We need to take the time to step outside of ourselves, our work, in order to appreciate it.  When you’ve immersed yourself to the point that you inhabit your own work, no matter how large or small, stepping back can be very difficult.  Life is a series of transitions and obstacles that we traverse and overcome.   Procrastination can be a good thing, but waiting is never easy.