Beating Procrastination and a Novel Update

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on here. Although, I am starting to increase my following on Twitter and interact with more writers on there.

Life has a habit of getting in the way. I work full time around writing (woman needs to eat and pay bills still) and seem to have been doing anything except sitting down to write.  Yes, I admit to being a terrible procrastinator when it comes to sitting down to write.  Pretty sure I’m not the only writer (or indeed creative person) or falls victim to this.

My work in progress, ‘Cara’s Journey’ has been around since 2013 as a digital file, and prior to that as notes scribbled on random pieces of paper.  I still have the bits of paper as reference points, as they have maps and character information.  When I sit down, wait for my ancient laptop to boot up, open Word, and start typing, I do knock out around 1,000-3,000 words per writing session. Which begs the question, why is the first draft still not finished when it’s nearly 2023?

It’s difficult to pinpoint why I procrastinate so much. From what I’ve read about it, there are several likely culprits that enable the procrastination monster to raise its ugly head. There are many causes listed online, but I’ve added the ones I feel are most relevant to me.

• A fear of failure. This one feels particularly relevant to sensitive, creative types like me. We fear completing something and putting it out into the world in case it attracts ridicule or negative comments. So, we avoid completing the thing in the first place. The solution apparently, is to assume you will fail and take each failure as a learning opportunity. It’s human to fail. Some of the most successful people in history failed multiple times before finding their success.

• Perfectionism. Ah yes. When you don’t complete anything, as you are waiting for that lighting bolt of perfectionism to strike. Cue a mountain of unfinished projects. The problem is perfectionism is a construct. It doesn’t exist. The solution is to accept this. Have high standards yes, but not so high that you never finish anything.  Better done than perfect. Some of the most famous literary works in history have volumes written about the faults in them. I have been trying to adopt the ‘better done than perfect’ school of thought when writing.

• No motivation/inspiration to write.  You need motivation and/or inspiration to sit down and write, yes? Apparently, this is a lie we have been told most of our lives.  Whilst inspiration and motivation may strike (for example, when the idea for a story pops into my head), it’s hard to get motivated from nothing. So, to beat the little gremlin in your head that mutters about having to wait for motivation, you should just act anyway. Start writing anything down. Even if its utter crap. I find the ideas and thoughts start flowing once I’ve made myself sit down and focus on writing.

So, the past two Sunday evenings, I’ve done the most work on my novel I’ve done in years. I’m over 50,000 words now, and almost on the last quarter of the story. You know, the pivotal part of the book where my protagonist will find out everything and face her arch nemesis who has been in pursuit all the way through. I’m not a strict planner when it comes to writing and only have a loose idea of where the narrative is heading, but I’m hoping to get up to 70,000- 80,000 words by the time the first draft is done.

I’m aware that this thing will not write itself, and that no one lives forever. I turn the big 40 at the end of this year, so it’d be a great achievement if I completed the first draft by them. Of course, then comes all the fun of editing, but will jump that bridge when I come to it. Watch this space for further updates!

If you are a fellow procrastinator and this post has resonated with you or been useful, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment below. How do you procrastinate, and how do you overcome this?