I am looking to interview writers (published or not) who have tackled with the 'condition' of procrastination. Are you a 'cured' procrastinator, or still a suffer? If you consider yourself cured what things helped you to get over the hump and start writing? If you are a suffer, why do you think you procrastinate? What things are you doing to help you? When does taking a break become procrastination? Tell me your story.

Thanks

There is a thread about this on the Freelance Forum thread--might be called something else but it was a lengthy thread.

In a nut shell, you dont write when you feel like it. You write because its your job. If you dont have a level of discipline to write, then you need to work fast food or something!

But what do you mean by "have to". If you're talking about "having to" write to pay the bills, I think that depends quite a lot. I think many us do have "other jobs" (hopefully not fast food!) so then any writing we do really "has to" come from within... But while I confess I am probably the least self-motivated person on this board, I don't believe (and perhaps I misunderstand the meaning and having a contract of some kind for writing or no work at all would certainly be a different case) in writing because you "have to" - to me that removes the joy and I refuse to feel guilty for having other interests in life!

Sorry, guess I'm just feeling ornary today, and maybe not even making sense (no high-sugar cereal but lots of coffee) I do have a lot to learn from you hard workers out there. Someday I hope too to be able to say I wrote even one book in a year...

I guess my point is...when I shifted from seeing writing as a hobby like speed-walking to a "job" my discipline increased. Discipline is a love-hate relationship. People who will make it in writing find ways to become disciplined, not ways to avoid ever really taking their writing seriously enough TO BECOME disciplined. For me, tackling proscrastination is really just to deal with the issue of discipline in your life. I also had a successful psychotherapy practice and the same discipline applied. It's the only way I know to build towards success is to develop skills that are productive, like discipline.

You're absolutely right - thanks for the advice.

I've found that the only time I procrastinate with my writing is when I don't really want to do a particular project (I'm a full-time freelance writer). My solution is to pick and choose my work very carefully. When I started freelancing last year, I did every type of writing I could get my hands on, but now I concentrate on sales writing, direct response copy writing and articles. I prefer short projects that I can research one day and write the next--the longer a job is, the less likely I am to want to do it. I like the satisfaction of crossing something off my to do list each day, I guess.

Hope this helps.

_________________
Leanne Beattie
New Century Communications...Creativity that Sells!

I know exactly what I want to research, the stories I have in mind, and the things
i need to do to get things accomplished. But,...... I think I procrastinate at times in order
to get a rush of adrenalin that comes with acutally doing the above, rather than proceed in a regular, orderly fashion, which at times becomes tedious, but yes, that disciplined manner is undoubtedly preferable and acutally, I have been trying to overcome
this dreadful habit of procrastination. And, truthfully, at times there are so many
other things to do when working at home. I should probably relocate my computer
to a more seccluded location within my home. Hope this helps. KathShannon@yahoo.ca

I think I postpone writing just coz I don't give it the amount of importance it deserves.. I give first preference to family and then house work .. and after that when I get some time to myself I end up just relaxing . I've tried the things to do list and have great joy ticking of done things ... but somehow writing sits at the bottom of the list .

When I write my to-do list, I don't put it in any order beyond "Get up and let the dogs out" and "go to bed before I fall over." Everything in between is random. Sometimes writing gets checked off, sometimes it doesn't. But since I write fiction, I use the time when I'm not actually writing to go over my stories, rehearse dialogue, and generally let the whole thing percolate. That way, when I do write it down, it's closer to being right the first time.