Has it been a month already? Gosh, I suppose it has. Here we are again, and I'm going to confess one of my insecurities to the 'net and everyone. I'm a bit insecure about that, but don't worry--I won't go meta on you.
Something I've noticed lately, since I've been doing my Garret Tour Tuesday series and therefore thinking a lot about writers' habits, is that I am not a very disciplined writer. I can be productive when I sit down and focus, but getting to that point is absurdly difficult. I'm easily distracted--oh, I'll just put a load of laundry in, I need to get a drink, I need to check my email, I wonder if I'm missing anything interesting on Facebook, I'll just grab a quick snack, and now would be a really good time to organize my beads by color and think about making a necklace.
Yup, I have finely-honed procrastination skills. It's a superpower.
The thing is that once I get going, I can churn out thousands of words in a sitting. I can sit and write for hours but it seems harder and harder to get to the point where I have six free hours to spend like that.
So yeah, I'm still struggling with the transition to Being An Adult. It's not as fun as I thought it'd be. Responsibility does not play well with Super-Procrastinating Binge Writing. Super-Procrastinating Binge Writing is better suited for writing from 11PM until falling asleep on the keyboard at 6AM, a diet of microwave ramen noodles and bottled water, and overall Lack of A Life. The addition of work obligations and desire not to totally blow off all my friends sort of throws this all to Heck. Juggling: sadly not one of my well-honed skills.
Sometimes I think I must be the only person who can't keep a schedule, and maybe I'm just not seriousface enough about the whole thing. Or maybe I'm having problems because I think I need to be more serious.
How do you beat the procrastination kitty?
Oh, you are SO not alone in this. I struggle with distraction disorder every day. Mostly the internet. It does take a degree of discipline to shut it all off and focus on writing. Truly, I struggle with it every day and get mad at myself when I've spent too much time on line when I could have gotten another page written. It's tough.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think a lot of it is that a lot of my communication with friends and the S.O. is via IM so there's always the fear of not being online when at home -- Who am I missing the opportunity to speak with? And once the internet is up, it's just a total lost cause. Maybe if I just put aside specific times, it would work.
DeleteThe only way I've managed to get anything done is to make myself responsible to someone else. Every two weeks, my friend and I send two chapters of our latest WIPs to each other. Which means come Sunday, I need to have two chapters done, no matter what there is to distract me. Once I started doing that, it was easier to set a daily writing goal, because I knew there was a reason. It's probably not healthy that the only way I can motivate myself to do anything is to do it for someone else, but if it works, I'm going to pretend it's perfectly normal. :-)
ReplyDeleteNow, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look at lolcats.
I don't think self-imposed deadlines are a bad idea. I wasn't keeping an exercise schedule until I started tracking my workout hours on a weekly online spreadsheet, along with my sister. We both see if we hit our weekly goal, and I have definitely been doing better at keeping with it. Unfortunately, I don't have anybody right now to do the writing-exchange thing with. I don't know any other writers well enough to feel comfortable doing that. Perhaps in the future :)
DeleteYou're definitely not alone. Procrastination is one of my downfalls as a writer too. I mean to get more work done than I ever do get accomplished because I keep procrastinating, especially on the internet.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet you still seem to be managing to produce content... :P
DeleteI used to procrastinate myself right past prime writing brain and into the land of idiocy. I have really been working on making sure that I'm more disciplined and do a little everyday instead of significant ebbs and flows.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I'm not good with a little every day. I'm stuck on a "scads-or-nothing" set. It takes me enough time to get going that by the time I'm in the "zone"...it's just not conducive to the "little every day" plan. Perhaps I should start setting goals for specific days and do a few hours on those days.
DeleteThe internet does make it so much easier to procrastinate, doesn't it? I also find it easy to pump out words once I'm focused and in the zone... but there are so many distracting things to click on... email, facebook, blogs, etc. Sometimes I think I'd be more productive with paper and a typewriter.
ReplyDeleteAllison (Geek Banter)
Once I'm "in the zone" I'm good. I'm not easily distracted once I catch my rhythm. It's the getting to that point that is increasingly difficult. :/
DeleteI once tried working with a typewriter. I actually found it pretty frustrating. I ended up working much slower because it was such a hassle to delete or rework sentences. What I really need is a computer without internet capabilities! lol
Like you, Callie, once I'm in the zone I'm good, but getting there is another story. The internet is a huge distraction for me, which is probably why I often leave my home office to write. If I stay there, it's just too easy to click a button and jump feet first into Pinterest or Google+! And by the time I come up for air, I've wasted another day by not writing.
ReplyDeleteI had a lovely Alphasmart that solved that problem, (no internet!) but it bit the dust two years ago. Last week I ordered a Neo 2. Can't wait until it arrives! Wish me luck...and I'm doing the same for you. Happy writing!
Oooh I have heard good things about Alphasmart! You know what, though, I had a good experience with Scrivener last November when I used the trial version -- the full-screen option damped down the distraction tendencies a lot. I guess I should just spring for a copy of it!
DeleteI find that if I skip a day, it's SO much harder to sit back down to writing. What really helps, though, is to have a lot of other work that you have to do, which makes writing feel like an escape instead of a chore!
ReplyDelete"Instead of tackling this looming pile of laundry, I'll play in my fantasy world!" Yeah that does sound like a better option! ha
DeleteBeing flexible with my schedule helps. Sometimes life just gets in the way so there's no point being hard on myself because I couldn't sit down and write at the allotted hour. That's why I have a weekly word count goal rather than a daily one.
ReplyDeleteOh, I hear you, loud and clear! Right now--rather than editing my WIP, I am gadding about, socializing via the A-Z linky list :-) I will be back to visit again. Love your sense of humor!
ReplyDeleteHi Callie, I’m new to the IWSG family and wanted to introduce myself, #260. Since I was tagged in a little game of “Lucky 7,” I thought it would be fun to extend my tag to you. Please check out my blog when you get a chance. :)
ReplyDelete