So back on November 1, I wrote a bit of a parody on NaNoWriMo called NaNoWriPro. Today I want to explore the phenomenon of procrastination a bit more seriously because I’m the Queen of Procrastination.
I always knew I was a bit addicted to e-mail and the Internet so a few years back I really buckled down and forced myself to write first, check e-mail later. That lasted about a month. Since then I’ve continued to try to do this, but then I’d fall off the wagon, sneaking a peek and saying “I’ll just answer the most important ones,” and then spending an hour or two on email, surfing the Net and generally not writing. Even when I get excited about a new book or getting back to one I’ve been working on, I still find myself putting off the writing. Why?
It’s a strange thing, writing. I love it. I can’t not do it, and yet there’s a part of me that must be afraid or something because I’ll tell myself I’ll “just quickly check” my e-mail to make sure nothing earth-shattering has occurred since I checked five minutes ago or check my website for comments or…you get the idea.
So, why do I (and other writers) put off the thing we profess to love? I’ll give some of my own thoughts on this next week.
