procrastination: an affliction

[lucilleinthesky]

I promised myself I would start participating in writing contests, like this one. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. By everything, I mean encouragement, which can certainly be everything to a struggling writer. By nothing, I mean that no one in my real life will ever know that I entered this contest. There will be no shame if I am not chosen. My husband and my mum will be none the wiser.

The only sacrifice required is time. Time I could have spent working on my manuscript. But let’s keep it real. I lose time I could have spent working on my manuscript every single day. I lose time to Facebook and to Amazon and to Nathan Bransford when I choose to visit these and many other sites instead of writing. No hard feelings though.

Procrastination can be harmful when you have a deadline and lethal when you have none. The modern world and all of its technology are beyond distracting. It is a miracle that anything gets done at all. No wonder there is nothing completed at Ground Zero nearly a decade after the towers came down.

Since most first-time novelists have no deadline, procrastination is a dangerous and common affliction. We have no agent hungrily awaiting the first chapter, dollar signs flashing in his eyes. We have no faithful fans salivating for pages to devour. We only have ourselves and that unrelenting voice in the back of our heads, “write, damnit! I have so much to say! I am going to drive you insane if you don’t finish at least one manuscript while you’re still breathing.”

It is because of this annoying voice that we, the aspiring novelists, are always slightly neurotic. (If you are an aspiring novelist and cannot relate, please do tell me all of your secrets. I will include you in my will, which is sure to be millions.)

Theoretically, once our first novel is published, the voice will shut up and we can relax for once. But I have a sinking feeling this does not happen. If it did, writers might stop writing. Harry Potter and Twilight and Anne of Green Gables would not have taken turns in defining pop culture. Jane Austen and Stephen King would not have shaped entire generations of writers. J.K. Rowling would not be nearly a billionaire.

No. The voice is a permanent fixture in those blessed (or cursed) enough to have one. But is it loud enough to vanquish procrastination? The answer depends on the writer and most of us would give our non-dominant hand to never again be afflicted with procrastination. After all, you only need one hand and a whole lot of focus to write.

Jonathan Franzen says that in order to find the time to read and write, “it’s a matter of restricting Internet access to the late afternoon and early evening. Morning for writing, later evening for reading. But we all know how hard it is to resist electronic things” (therumpus.net).

Yes, we do know. Or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now. The Internet is an unparalleled resource and extremely valuable. It is also extremely addictive. Like coffee and chocolate. Beneficial in small doses, but who wants to stop at one cup or one bite or one half hour? It feels too good, so you just keep drinking or eating or surfing. Until you’re shaking or you feel sick or you’ve successfully spent the entire evening reading many words on your computer screen and not writing one.

Fellow novelists and aspiring novelists, I challenge you to heed the wisdom of Jonathan Franzen and turn off the distractions as much as possible. If you are stubborn and you don’t want to, remember that he’s published and famous and you’re probably not. If you want to make it in this big, bad world, procrastination is not your friend and distractions feed the affliction.

Unplug the internet and your cell phone and the TV and become acquainted with the lost art of focusing. Let your inbox fill with emails. They can wait. So can your Facebook friends. And you don’t need to know every detail of the world’s breaking news. The conflict in the Middle East will continue whether or not you pay attention.

On the other hand, that nagging, incessant voice is not going to shut up or leave you alone, so you may as well listen to it. Learn to get along with it. Tune in and use it.

I’ll be the first to start.