Authors and Procrastination

[kero319]

Hey Guys, long time, no see.

So I was just wondering how many of you authors/authors-in-training procrastinate, and how much and to what degree?

What are ways you fix this?

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

Can I get back to you on that? 

[Cooper]

Me is school, the college literary journal, and the family business getting in the way.  My way of fixing it is go to Borders and write while listening to orchestral music.

[blgarver]

My way of fixing it is go to Borders and write while listening to orchestral music.

I think you're my twin.  And yes, I procrastinate like if I procrastinate enough someone will give me a prize.

[Kali]

I often think this is real difference between professional writers and wanna-bes. 

Professionals procrastinate writing the next chapter by writing queries or outlines for the next book or doing the edits from the last book. 

Wanna-bes (sorta like me) procrastinate by reading email and watching that episode of "Chuck" they missed and cleaning out the 'fridge.

[blgarver]

Yeah...that sounds about right.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Professionals procrastinate writing the next chapter by writing queries or outlines for the next book or doing the edits from the last book. 
Wanna-bes (sorta like me) procrastinate by reading email and watching that episode of "Chuck" they missed and cleaning out the 'fridge.

Um, lots of professionals procrastinate in the latter way as well, just not enough of the time to impair their career.  (That much.  Iain Banks was rather public about being a couple of months late on a novel a year or so ago because of Civilisation IV.)

It takes a certain kind of mental judo to convince yourself you really should be doing thing A in order to feel thing B is procrastinating and therefore be able to do it, and if you can swap thing A and B around with some frequency it helps a lot.

[CrazyGerbilLady]

I'm in a rather different situation, being one half of a writing team.  We keep each other from procrastinating too much.  Helps that we have so much damn fun writing together.   

[blgarver]

Um, lots of professionals procrastinate in the latter way as well, just not enough of the time to impair their career.  (That much.  Iain Banks was rather public about being a couple of months late on a novel a year or so ago because of Civilisation IV.)

That's amazing.  I freaking love Civ 4.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

That's amazing.  I freaking love Civ 4.

Can't stand it myself; I'm a Civ 3 diehard.

[kero319]

Haha good, so I'm not alone
I've been setting aside a certain time everyday to do at least one hour of writing during that time, but I don't let myself do anything else during that time

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Haha good, so I'm not alone
I've been setting aside a certain time everyday to do at least one hour of writing during that time, but I don't let myself do anything else during that time

If your life allows that great; lots of writers swear by it.

So far as I can tell, what matters is getting the words out.  If you're a writer with a career of about one book a year, call that a hundred thousand words in a year.  You can do that by writing a few hundred every day if the shape of your life and your working patterns allow that.  You can do like I do, and write most Friday nights from 6.30 until as late as you can; a couple of thousand words a week add up just as well.  I suppose you could write the whole darned thing in six or eight weeks if you actually happened to be Iain Banks or one of the other published authors who is on record as doing this, and spend the rest of the year messing around, but that approach really would not appeal to me even if it did fit with having a day job.

[Yeratel]

If I set aside one hour per day for writing, and one hour per day for exercise, I would have washboard abs and turn out the equivalent of a 300 page novel per year. I'll get right on that, as soon as I finish getting caught up with my favorite shows from last season on hulu.com . 

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

I wish I was Erma Bombeck. I grew up wanting to be her.

Everyday, she would get her hubby off to work, get her kids off to school, and pretty much lock herself in her office to write until the kids got home.

[blgarver]

Can't stand it myself; I'm a Civ 3 diehard.

Really?  That is the one, out of all the Civs, that I didn't like at all.  Man...so many hours spent on Civ 2 when I should have been writing in junior high and high school...what progress to my writing ability I could have made.  Man oh man.