It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a writer in possession of a Manuscript, must be in want of… well anything that will put off the evil hour of actually getting down to it. Procrastination may be the thief of time, but oh how we writers love it. There seems to be nothing nicer than whiling away your day on Facebook or Twitter particularly when there is editing to be done. It becomes a kind of art form, the self-deception to justify the waste. There are a million things we suddenly NEED to do or should be doing or would be quite convenient if they were done or just plain could be done when we’re desperate.
So I asked around. What are people’s favourite diversions? I assumed there would be a ranked result, but it seems there are as many types of procrastination as minutes in the day to waste.
Vaguely writing related seems to be the easiest to justify, like making soundtracks to put you in the mood, researching pictures that inspire you on Pinterest, chatting on social media is necessary, of course, as is baking to feed your brain. Shopping, even ‘window shopping’ online can be a way to pass the time and emails, blogs and reading, even cleaning at a push – you wouldn’t want to catch a bug from a dirty laptop! But why do we do it? That’s the more interesting question.
For me, sometimes it’s because I’m bored. Sometimes I’ve done a big bit of writing and need time to regroup before I move on, like a revision break in exam days, but mostly it’s because I don’t want to write, I mean I do, but… I don’t think I can, or don’t have time or peace enough to commit, or sometimes I don’t even believe there is any point. You see there are all kinds of reasons for not writing, but I guess if writing wasn’t so important to me, I wouldn’t need so many excuses to stop doing it.
Most useful? Cleaning. I get lots of plot lines sorted with that. :-/ But my current favourite waste of time is creating book covers. I can spend hours … days doing that and still justify to myself that it might come in useful one day. Genius!
What’s yours?
So I asked around. What are people’s favourite diversions? I assumed there would be a ranked result, but it seems there are as many types of procrastination as minutes in the day to waste.
Vaguely writing related seems to be the easiest to justify, like making soundtracks to put you in the mood, researching pictures that inspire you on Pinterest, chatting on social media is necessary, of course, as is baking to feed your brain. Shopping, even ‘window shopping’ online can be a way to pass the time and emails, blogs and reading, even cleaning at a push – you wouldn’t want to catch a bug from a dirty laptop! But why do we do it? That’s the more interesting question.
For me, sometimes it’s because I’m bored. Sometimes I’ve done a big bit of writing and need time to regroup before I move on, like a revision break in exam days, but mostly it’s because I don’t want to write, I mean I do, but… I don’t think I can, or don’t have time or peace enough to commit, or sometimes I don’t even believe there is any point. You see there are all kinds of reasons for not writing, but I guess if writing wasn’t so important to me, I wouldn’t need so many excuses to stop doing it.
Most useful? Cleaning. I get lots of plot lines sorted with that. :-/ But my current favourite waste of time is creating book covers. I can spend hours … days doing that and still justify to myself that it might come in useful one day. Genius!
What’s yours?
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