I’m having a terrible day of procrastination today, wrestling with my India book and just becoming annoyed with everything, myself included. I should read this to sort myself out.
Instead I enjoyed re-reading Don Miller’s description of a writer’s life:
“Writers don’t make any money at all. We make about a dollar. It is terrible. But then again we don’t work either. We sit around in our underwear until noon then go downstairs and make coffee, fry some eggs, read the paper, read part of a book, smell the book, wonder if perhaps we ourselves should work on our book, smell the book again, throw the book across the room because we are quite jealous that any other person wrote a book, feel terribly guilty about throwing the schmuck’s book across the room because we secretly wonder if God in heaven noticed our evil jealousy, or worse, our laziness. We then lie across the couch face down and mumble to God to forgive us because we are secretly afraid He is going to dry up all our words because we envied another man’s stupid words. And for this, as I said before, we are paid a dollar. We are worth so much more.”
Have you got any tips for me today?! I’m probably going to resolve this in my usual way: going for a long, cold, muddy run.
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8 Comments
Man, I know what you mean exactly. Maybe it’s of no use to you but I find it very helpful to go to the library. It’s quiet, many people are working (and suffering) around you but you can’t talk to them, and the most important thing of all: there’s no internet!
Cheers and good luck
The only cure for procrastination is to START- whatever it is- whether you feel like it or not. Starting’s very often the hardest part. If nothing’s flowing within an hour or so then it’s probably not going to; in which case you’re better off doing something else (exercise is definitely a good one Al!). But if you don’t at least make a start you have zero chance of getting any further, so it’s a very good routine to be in. Deceptively simple. Writer’s block, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely…;-)
Thanks Matt – good advice…
Oh I forgot- fantastic writing quote by the way- thanks for that!
Hi Al,
Thanks for the quote. Hope the run did the trick.
Saw the following on a t-shirt in the pub last week:
“Procrastinators – tomorrow’s leaders”
Procrastination is my demon, and one that hides behind the guise of ‘I’ll just check the web and see if/what/when…”
Fear is the only weapon in my opinion, and nothing creates fear like a comprehesive list of everything you have to do. This should extend from the most mundane (wash up) to the most random and unlikely (clean car). In between those two endpoints should be the one thing you really need to do NOW. At that point drink 3 espressos and phone someone to tell them you’ll have it done by that evening. Then panic. Then start.
Works for me!
wise words indeed! Thanks Luke!
I love the stories about Anthony Trollope, who used to write for three hours every morning (5.30 to 8.30, with lots of coffee) before going to work at the post office. Three hours exactly – apparently, if he finished a novel after two hours, he’d start work on the next one for his last hour…
“All those I think who have lived as literary men,—working daily as literary labourers,—will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.”
I’ve never tried it, but maybe setting a limit to the amount of time you’re allowed to spend writing in a day, rather than feeling like you should be spending all day writing, might work – in a reverse-psychology kind of way?
Good luck anyway!