6 minute read
The queen of procrastination
Next Article
BY SHIRLEY MARTIN
I consider myself royalty; I am the Queen of Procrastination!
I know I should be writing, but suddenly there are muffins to bake, the neighbour’s dog to walk, old clothes to sort, toilets to clean…. That’s how bad it can get—when one avoids writing by cleaning toilets!
It is not always thus. At times, I am abuzz with ideas, and it is easy to make the leap and get them down on paper. I achieve a flow state while writing, and this propels me to the finish line. It’s exhilarating! This flow has led me to publish five children’s books as well as eleven articles and a smattering of poems. However, more often, I am the Queen of Procrastination.
Why do we procrastinate? I can only speak for myself. Sometimes, I procrastinate because I don’t know how to begin. Or I procrastinate because I am tired. More often, I procrastinate because I am afraid. I am afraid of failing, afraid that I am an impostor purporting to be a writer and that if I put my writing out there, the truth will be out.
I have succumbed to procrastination again and again. However, recently I examined my writing life, and have now—at age seventy—made a fresh beginning. This entailed coming up with a plan.
I used to write on the couch, in the living room, or at the dining room table. When exhausted, I wrote while lying in bed. I’d get easily sidelined, gazing out the window at the harbour, chatting with my husband when he walked by, or picking up a novel from my bedside table. I am what you might call distractable. I have friends who prefer writing in the cacophony of a coffee shop brimming with chatter and music and the clatter of cutlery. I realize that many great works have been penned in coffee shops, on public transit, on park benches, or in laundromats. I am in awe of those writers. Their method does not work for me. I need solitude and silence. Since I do best without distractions of any kind, I feel fortunate to have set up a quiet writing space.
I established my writing space in the far reaches of our basement. My desk faces a windowless wall. My computer is set up, ready and waiting. Relevant books (i.e., The Concise Oxford English Dictionary and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style) line a nearby bookcase. Pens and lined paper sit next to the computer, along with fluorescent highlighters. And since my writing space is at the end of the downstairs “rumpus room,” I purchased a divider—because when writing, one does not want to be enticed into “rumpusing” instead!
When I am ready to write, I set up my folding screen as a proclamation to myself and the greater world (which during this pandemic meant my husband) that I am writing. I am not to be disturbed! (Although I did not refuse the steaming cup of tea in my favourite porcelain cup, which my husband passed to me around the edge of the screen. The tea continues to arrive daily. As well as being blessed with my ideal writing space, I am lucky in love.)
After I created my writing space, being the Queen of Procrastination, I still found myself frittering my time away by snacking, reading “just one more chapter,” cleaning out the junk drawer, checking social media, and so on. I needed to improve on my plan.
That meant a commitment. And that meant a schedule. I promised myself I would devote a minimum of three hours a day, five days a week, to writing. Now fully retired, I have the freedom to write every afternoon, Monday to Friday, so I am striving to treat writing like a job. A part-time job, but still a job.
A schedule is one means of making a commitment; another can be a writing group. I am fortunate to belong to a group comprised of skilled and supportive writers. They encourage me in my writing and teach me valuable lessons through their feedback. Earlier this year, we all stated our writing goals. We are not on each other’s cases about reaching those goals, but still, we are accountable to each other. It is one more nudge to quit procrastinating and focus on writing.
Of course, “free” time is not necessarily procrastination. We all have things we need to do—work, chores, social interactions, exercise, the stuff of life. And to optimize our writing potential, we require time to fill our creative wells, feed our muses, open ourselves to inspiration and flow. This looks different for everybody. For me, it means walks in the forest, kayaking, and reading. (A lot of reading!) These activities are not procrastination. They create states of being that welcome creativity.
When the schedule says it’s time to write (and the creativity is, hopefully, ready to flow), it’s time to get to it! Some writers find it helpful to have a ritual, something that signals, “I am getting down to business. I am switching into writer mode.” For me, that is the setting up of my privacy screen. In non-pandemic times, I would have found a screen during one of my frequent forays into out-of-town antique shops. Due to the pandemic, however, we had to stay close to home, so I did a little online shopping. I found a bargain screen (free delivery!) with a silk-screened design that speaks to me—two red birds, one perched on a branch, one in flight.
One of my favourite books on writing is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. In it, she recounts a story about her then ten-year-old brother. Having procrastinated for months on the writing of a school report on birds, the night before its due date he was hunched over the kitchen table, fighting back tears. Anne Lamott describes her father putting his arm around her brother’s shoulder and saying, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
“Bird by bird” is my new mantra. Progress on my latest project—an intimidating nonfiction manuscript— was plagued by my penchant for procrastination. I am now on a roll with research, interviews, outlines, and written work. Bird by bird, I am moving toward the day of completion for this project. Someday this book will fly!
I am beyond happy to abdicate my throne, to throw off the cumbrous cloak worn by the Queen of Procrastination. I will leave the final word on the topic of beginning to a King—Stephen King that is—who wrote in his memoir On Writing, “The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”
Shirley Martin lives harbourside in Ucluelet where the rugged surroundings inspire her writing. She has published five children’s books. Several of her poems were included in the VIRL anthology Alone but Not Alone Her articles can be found in Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News and WordWorks Magazine. Shirley enjoys kayaking, beachcombing, and researching local history.
