FMWriters is traveling the web via the Merry Go Round Blog Tour. Site members have grouped together to write monthly on themed topics and turn the blog tour concept on its head: we’re not the ones touring: you are, as you read one writer’s perspective after another. This is my contribution to the Merry Go Round Tour. Enjoy your ride. ~ Dawn
I didn’t write this post until just now, just to prove that procrastination is not worth the letters it takes up. I’ve been thinking about it all day, knowing I need to get to it, knowing it isn’t going to write itself, yet I took the experiment to the max. I’m irritated and annoyed that I need to take time out of my children’s evening time on a Saturday night to do something I should and could have done days ago.
It was a good reminder of why I don’t procrastinate deadline stuff.
Sure, there are other things I procrastinate. I push off laundry so I can write. I push off starting that new revision so I can balance the checkbook. You could make it work for you if that was your intent, and it does help get the floors mopped on a more frequent basis, but it’s not the life I want to lead.
The most fun I ever had procrastinating was playing World of Warcraft for three months instead of starting a novel revision. This was five or six years ago–I’d probably hang myself now if I even thought about doing that. (Besides, I cancelled WoW permanently at least two years ago, been four since I’ve been on a raid).
Why did I do such a horrible thing? Because I wasn’t ready to work on something and blocked myself up completely. There was no joy in the writing because it was all pressure. Why didn’t I just work on something else? I didn’t have the tools and processes in place at that point to really know that I could. All I knew is that something wasn’t working, so I turned my back on it.
So before I ask you what was the most fun you’ve ever had procrastinating, I’d also like to remind you (and myself) that if something isn’t working, if you’re not thrilled to be working on it, don’t just turn away. Work on something else if you have to, but don’t ignore what’s bugging you about what you’re ignoring. Most of the time, there’s a better way that you (and I) just can’t see yet.
Now, I’m off to go watch Star Wars with my kid for the first time – hopefully they didn’t start the movie without me.
Happy Writing
~ Dawn
PS there’s nothing wrong with world of warcraft if you can control how much time you spend on it. that was not my strength and completely interfered with my writing. i admit completely to having an addictive personality, and know that if i can’t control it, i have to avoid it. the exception to this of course, is my writing.
Today’s post was inspired by Forward Motion’s Merry-Go-Round August topic ‘Procrastination’. If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and read about their ideas on Cross-Genre Fiction, then check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.
DAWN BONANNO 
Okay, the important question is: the original Star Wars trilogy, or the new ones?
I’m really good a procrastination, so I’ve done some fun stuff rather frequently. I’ve skipped a class before to finish a reading a book, and I’ve gone for a long day on the beach rather than writing an essay. But the most fun I’ve had was right after college: writing that first novel instead of looking for a job. Luckily, now I can both be gainfully employed and a writer.
BC, I’d planned on it being the original, but we no longer have a VHS player (gasp) and we hadn’t replaced the set with DVDs. I borrowed the set from a family member and was slightly disappointed it wasn’t the original. But, it is still Star Wars, so it didn’t kill the evening. 😉
That’s a really good procrastination story with that first novel. 🙂
Congrats on cancelling your WoW subscription. I have no idea how I managed to graduate magna cum laude while playing the Age of Wonders games, but I did. I was a master at last-minute papers, but even I admit the quality of my work near the end of college was going down-hill. I still play games, but now days my bigger time waster is playing guitar. The trick with me is find a way to make my work feel like play, but I always lose focus, so I also have to have multiple projects going on.