Procrastinating the Procrastination
May 19th 2007
Julia LondonOn Writing!
This week I found myself in a pickle. I have a very firm deadline Tuesday and screwed around long enough that I have had to work every minute of the last six days. Then life threw me one it’s curve balls that it likes to throw to see if you are still awake, and whammo – it wasn’t just talking about working every moment, I actually had to work every moment and well into the night.
The thing that made me so mad is that I do this with every book. When I establish a timeline for delivery of a manuscript, I always give myself plenty of wiggle room for life’s curve balls, pedicures, and lazy days by the pool. So how, then, do I get myself into these messes? In a word: pro-cras-ti-na-tion.
Don’t ask me what I do with my time. I feel constantly busy. But apparently I don’t do enough of the stuff that’s important. And then here I am, burning both ends of the candle, trying to squeeze what should have been a week’s worth of solid work into a day. I dread to bring this topic up, because my guess is that a couple of my fellow goddesses are enviably organized and productive (my guess? Claudia and Karen Rose. I just have that feeling). I can be organized and productive…but just not in the things that matter.
Do you procrastinate? Or are you one of those people who delight in putting little green marks for task completion next to the little red marks for due dates on your project timeline? Do you get off on total order, or do you like a little chaos in your life?
36 Comments »
36 Responses to “Procrastinating the Procrastination”
TinaLouiseF on 20 May 2007 at 12:19 am #
I love to procrastinate. There are some things I keep track of very well and others that I let slide.
There are still piles of things in my bedroom that need new places to live after my mother decided to repaint my apartment last October. Since they got home from their vacation early, maybe in the next week and a half before they leave again I’ll work in my storag shed to find room.
SuzyQ on 20 May 2007 at 1:09 am #
I think I’ll answer later . . .
dee from oz on 20 May 2007 at 3:31 am #
If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would be done
Terry Stone on 20 May 2007 at 4:08 am #
I don’t think I love chaos, I just think I have a natural born affinity for it and it chases me down whether I want it to or not. I would love to be one of those super organized people who get things done and can then can sit back and relax. What I want to be and what I am, are nothing alike. I would say alot of that stems from my procrastination tendencies.
Judy F on 20 May 2007 at 7:01 am #
Some things I do right away to get them overwith and others I left slide. (like cleaning my apartment). I think I procrastinated more then be organized. Some day I will get better… LOL
Karen Rose on 20 May 2007 at 7:33 am #
HA!
HA!
HA!
Okay, I have lifted myself from the floor. I’d be Queen of Procrasto-land if I’d only get around to crowning myself. I always end up working 20 hour days to get the book done. There’s something about a deadline that gets my juices flowing. It’s my process and I really wish I were one of those people who could write 8 hours a day on a steady pace. It’s like I hit the EAC (East Austr. Current, dudes) at the last minute and it’s a whirlwind of action! (I saw Finding Nemo, The Musical with my daughter yesterday, dudes.)
And my office - it’s one of those places where if you saw it you’d exclaim, “Call the police! You’ve been ransacked and/or robbed!” HA! It always looks that way.
Still scoffing as I go to get coffee… Ha ha ha…
MizMacgyver on 20 May 2007 at 7:38 am #
I am the Queen of Procrastination, clean laundry sits in baskets until it’s time to wash again, because the baskets are empty. More than once the laundry has been taken from the basket one piece at a time. The grass needs cut bad, I had to use a weed-eater to cut it all last time it was cut and it looks like I am headed that way again. The car needs an oil change, I don’t even do that myself but it is still up to me to get it done. I need to put my read books on the shelves and re-arrange the tbr shelves. I am sitting here, waiting for the coffee to be done and watching Johnny Cash on the tube instead.
Claudia Dain on 20 May 2007 at 9:09 am #
I think I’m going to be flattered that I made your “does not procrastinate” list. I think. I don’t WANT to procrastinate. I never MEAN to. I have plans, good plans, reasonable plans, and then…is it time for bed already?
I get it all done, usually. On time, most times.
But the days when I could calculate out to the day when the book would be finished are gone. You want that? Your go-to girl is Sabrina.
KMB25 on 20 May 2007 at 9:12 am #
I am sooo a procrastinator! I wait until almost the very last minute to sometimes do important things…I’m so bad! I have one thing to say for it though….when I was still working on my master’s and I’d wait until the last 2 days to write a major paper…I wrote better under the pressure of the deadline.
I think sometimes we are our most creative when we are writing/learning a tune/composing..etc on a deadline. I find I have the best ideas that just come in a snap especially when I’m forced to think of them in a very short amount of time. I wrote my master’s thesis this way and I (weirdly enough) have been told a few times that it’s one of the better papers they’ve seen in years! (man, I really had them all fooled didn’t I?…hehe)
So sometimes it pays to procrastinate…that’s all I’m sayin’
~Kim
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 9:23 am #
TinaLouiseF, when I used to call my old great aunt and ask her what she was doing, she’d say “moving these piles around with my eyes.” hahaha!
Terry Stone, I know what you mean! It’s like I’m a magnet for the proverbial s&*t hitting the fan!
Judy F, I am on board with your plan: SOMEDAY
Karen R, I am so disappointed. I thought that project engineer background would lend itself to all kinds of project timelines and spreadsheets. Claudia, I must consult with Sabrina!
Miz, don’t get me started on laundry. I walked by a minute ago and thought, “right….laundry.”
And Kim, I have heard that–a deadline makes you more creative. Why, then, do I sit in front of the screen reaching for words that have flown my brain in the panic of realizing what time it is?
DebMarlowe on 20 May 2007 at 10:17 am #
I’m procrastinating right now!
But I’d better get back to work….
DebMarlowe on 20 May 2007 at 10:18 am #
Fooled ya!
LOL, I don’t have time to procrastinate! I don’t have time to get everything that needs done, done. I’ve just gotten really good at triage.
Ann in IL on 20 May 2007 at 10:36 am #
LOL, Love the line “moving these piles around with my eyes”
I’m gonna use that one a LOT.
I’m a solid gold procrastinator. Wait til the last minute - that’s me.
Especially when it comes to cleaning. Now laundry - that’s another story. Love it. Today I’m ironing all my summer stuff. I have the totes for winter and summer cluttering my room and I’m tired of falling over them. I love to do laundry and iron. It’s calming for me, and I get a great feeling of accomplishment while I do it.
MizMacgyver on 20 May 2007 at 10:43 am #
Ann in IL, could you come to my house for a visit please? I don’t do ironing, I don’t buy anything that has to be ironed, if by some twist of fate I end up with something that has to be ironed it is put away and never worn again.
Laundry, dishes and bills are the worst for me. Actually getting the laundry done isn’t the problem so much as getting it put away. It might help if the laundry was upstairs with the rest of us but for me to get to the laundry room I have to go outside, down the stairs, down the walk down the stairs and into the basement. That did not help with my procrastination problem.
Sabrina Jeffries on 20 May 2007 at 11:57 am #
You’re kidding, right, Claudia? The only reason I can approximate when the book will be done is because I do try to meet my deadlines. But as the deadline approaches, I go from “geez, I can meet it if I only write 5 pages a day every day” to “geez, I can meet it if I only write 10 pages a day every day. I can do that, right? RIGHT?”
If you want an example of a writer who’s consistent and writes the same number of pages every day, day in, day out, talk to my critique partner, Rexanne Becnel. Unfortunately, she does it by avoiding the internet entirely. Must learn to do that.
Oh, right, that will never happen.
So now I’ve got a month and a half to write half my book. AGAIN.
Suzanne Enoch on 20 May 2007 at 12:18 pm #
Okay, I procrastinate. Especially when I’m on deadline, like now. I’ll sit down to write, and then nothing happens, but I feel like it SHOULD be happening, so I feel GUILTY about doing anything else when I SHOULD be writing. So NOTHING gets done.
Except for making lists. I like making lists of things I’m not doing.
gannon on 20 May 2007 at 12:36 pm #
Procrastination is my middle name! Even though I tell myself “this time I’ll do it now and not wait until the last minute”, it never happens.
I say this as I have just 2 weeks left until the packers come to move us cross country and I have WAY too much work to do to prepare. Oh well….
Nicole Jordan on 20 May 2007 at 1:14 pm #
Ummm, Julia, please don’t hate me but I’m obsessively organized — to the point that I drive my “normal” friends nuts. I still miss deadlines sometimes, but usually it’s because of someone else, like my editor taking forever to get back to me on something.
And there are lots of times when I just can’t bear sitting down at the computer, but usually I kick myself and do it. I think my discipline comes from fear, though. For years, I knew if I couldn’t make my writing career work, I would have to go back to making Pampers. Trust me, that is excellent motivation!
NicoleJ
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 1:23 pm #
Ann in IL…..I have heard of people like you. Never actually seen one. I would love for you to be here today, the laundry has legs and is lurking behind a door, ready to smother me.
Ironing…SIGH…I remember the days!
Stacy S on 20 May 2007 at 1:37 pm #
I procrastinate. Hate cleaning( dusting really). And laundry I do, but hate, hate to put it away. So it’ll sit there in the basket til its gone & gotta do it again.
KMB25 on 20 May 2007 at 2:13 pm #
Julia, I completely understand! When I was writing my Master’s thesis, I would sit for hours, literally, in front of the computer and not know what to write. I think I finally got started by totally rambling and writing everything down. From there, when I realized what I had, I just turned them into actual, complete sentences.
I think that’s how I work though..I freak myself out when I have to stare at a blank page and don’t know where to start. It’s always been my problem really. Once I get started, though, I don’t have any problems…so my rambling starts actually help me to at least get something on the page and then I can get going from there.
~Kim
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 2:19 pm #
Nicole, I was remiss in not naming you — I think I do know that about you. I don’t hate you. I envy you!! I want to be that way!
Gannon, you are giving me heart palpitations.
And Kim, that’s what I end up doing. I throw a lot of junk on the page and hope something works out
Judy F on 20 May 2007 at 2:21 pm #
I wonder if we could get Ann from Ill to come to all of our homes.
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 3:09 pm #
That’s what I’m thinking, Judy F. We pool our money, send her on a little vacation where she can relax to her heart’s content.
MJ on 20 May 2007 at 3:52 pm #
Well…. I may not be the queen of procrastination, but I view it as a fine art. The only artistic talent I have, I might add. Because I’m a really super busy person (I think 2 full-time jobs and a household and two choirs etc…qualifies, but I admit - no kids - that would make me superwoman like the rest of YOU.), I do eventually get productive…..but the journey is tortuous.
My motto is definitely “never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after”…and the best motivation I can have to do a task I dislike is to HAVE to do one I dislike even more. For instance…my house is getting cleaned this weekend because I have TONS of marking to do.
I have, however, prepared to mark. I have counted all the papers (183), put all the classes in alphabetical order, recorded that each paper was received and sharpened 11 pencils.
And, as you see, I’m online blogging right now.
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 6:49 pm #
Those sharpened pencils….nothing notes good intentions better than sharpened pencils, LOL
Ann in IL on 20 May 2007 at 9:06 pm #
I would love to do everyone’s laundry and ironing. I always said that if I could make a decent enough living Ironing, I would do it.
Julia. If you’re in Dallas for the conference, you just might see someone who irons at the book signing.
Julia London on 20 May 2007 at 9:37 pm #
I’ll be there, Ann! I would love to meet someone who irons!
shu on 21 May 2007 at 4:51 am #
I don’t get anything done until the last minute. In fact, I just started studying for a final that is to take place at 1pm in the last hour. Not to mention the fact that I’m browsing the internet…
cookeemama on 21 May 2007 at 6:28 am #
I was away all day yestesrday being the perfect Nana by attending a GK’s softball tournament. It was a lovely day for it here in the Middle Atantic.
Ann in IL, I am impressed. I don’t believe I know anyone who irons clothes. I only iron fabric and do love doing that. Spinning dreams of quilts-to-be. Someday. If I live long enough.
I relax in the sewing room. That way I can safely ignore the laundry, dishes, upheaval caused by new Cocker Spaniel puppy, etc.
Al, the know-it-all-just-ask-him mows my yard. TG he’s somebody else’s husband.
Margaret
Karen Hawkins on 21 May 2007 at 7:18 am #
I was going to answer this yesterday, but then I remembered I needed to clean out the cat box which made me remember my ex m-i-l’s birthday and that I needed to send a card NOW which meant I had to go to the store and since I was there, I also got some carpet cleaner cause Sundays are cleaning days for me and so when I got back, I forgot to log back on and post my thoughts.
Sometimes, I don’t think I’m a procrastinator, so much as I have too much to DO.
I need a Life Assistant to keep me on track.
Julia London on 21 May 2007 at 8:27 am #
Karen, I swear that is my problem. I am constantly busy–I just can never remember what I was doing that made me put off The Book.
Speaking of The Book….on the home stretch….about to dive and slide on in.
Cail on 21 May 2007 at 10:10 am #
Nicole I’m with you. Procrastination is barely in my vocabulary. All through college I repeatedly handed in papers weeks upon weeks early. no sense in waiting till that last beautiful weekend in April when you could do it during the rain/sleet in March!
As far as laundry goes… that i would procrastinate on, if it wasn’t for the fact that the nice man at the laundry mat picks it up at my door, and brings it back nicely folded and clean the next day. I love how cheap these services are in NY!
i don’t even own an iron. i probably should… it would make shortening my new pants much easier.
TheNightPoet on 21 May 2007 at 2:02 pm #
I’m back. lol Finals are over. Yes! Freedom! No more procrastinating. lol Yes, Julia, I am a procrastinator. I put things off until I absolutely HAVE to do them and then I feel overwhelmed because I waited until the last minute to do everything. It’s frustrating when I do that, but I can’t seem to stop doing it. lol
Andrea
flip on 22 May 2007 at 2:49 pm #
I procrastinate doing stuff that I hate doing. If I start doing housework to avoid another project, the project has to be awful. But workwise I am pretty good about deadlines. I have worked for a couple of procrastinators who were very, very bad about deadlines. It meant stress and unnecessary work for everyone else so I am very aware of deadlines.
darkshire007 on 23 May 2007 at 10:36 am #
I wish I could procrastinate. A military childhood and now a military adulthood mean I have very little control over my life. If the boss says now, he means now, even if my day ends up being 19 hours. The problem compounds itself because I carry that mentality into my personal life. Hence, I’m on husband number 3. The previous two couldn’t stand my totalitarian lifestyle and my need to get eveything done right now.