Procrastination

“In the old days, writers used to sit in front of a typewriter and stare out of the window. Nowadays, because of the marvels of convergent technology, the thing you type on and the window you stare out of are now the same thing.” – Douglas Adams

We all do lots of different things to put off the tasks we don’t like – and sometimes even the tasks we enjoy, but just don’t feel like doing right now.

Writing is one of the most frequent victims of this procrastination. Why else do so many authors – whether world-famous published celebrities or unpublished nobodies (hello!) have blogs (hello again!), overused twitter accounts (not quite, but getting there) and far too much knowledge of useless trivia (apparently, if you put 10,000 spiders in a room, they are so carnivorous that you will eventually just end up with one huge fat spider – though I wonder why you would do that too; perhaps you are procrastinating)?

Of course there are loads of reasons: to connect with their fans; spread awareness of their names and talents; research; share ideas with like-minded individuals. All of those things. Just like the fact that the freezer DID have to be defrosted again and the hard drive really DID need to be defragged again.

Hell, here I am, doing it now.

But why do writers blog and tweet more often than, say, accountants or binmen? (This is a purely random concept – I have honestly no idea if we do, but for the purposes of this blog, let’s assume that accountants and binmen are notoriously unreliable bloggers.)

I guess part of it is that writing is – generally – a fairly solitary task. No-one else is relying on you to get things done. Even editors and agents (if you are fortunate enough to have them) have other people to hassle and harry – not just you. If you don’t write enough, or well enough, or on time, only you suffer.

There’s also the incentive of a looming deadline. Some of us can’t work without one. Whether externally imposed or just your own attempt at discipline, the longer you procrastinate, the more pressure is applied by the deadline. And when it’s too close to ignore, you work more furiously and more productively.

That’s the theory, at least.

But procrastination serves another purpose, too.

How many great ideas come during the parts of the day when your mind is in a totally ludicrous place? Looking out the window, watching those cat videos or wondering if bronies can really be really real – really.

More than a few, I guess. I hope!

So yeah, basically what I’m saying is, it’s not that I’m not writing right now, I’m really just letting my brain rest so that it can come up with something cool for later. So I can just watch those monkeys riding around on the dogs one more time.

Martin……..

PS. Publication of the anthology “A Seeming Glass” is approaching. Be prepared for its wonder!