Panicking. Complaining loudly to anyone within ear shot. It has happened exactly three times today, so far anyway. This morning I wanted to work on some of the comments my writing group made on my only almost complete story and did not know how to begin, but, after grunting in frustration and stomping around the room and sending a few complain-y texts to one of my friends in the group I managed to make the additions I’d been meaning to.
Later on, while studying I went off on a rant with the friend who was studying with me and again complained and sighed and was oh so dramatic about it for a few minutes, and then sat down and got it done.
The same thing happened in terms of this post. I do my very best to post at least every Sunday, but this morning I told myself that I had too much to do and if I was going to devote time to my story I would have to sacrifice time for my blog.
Is it an innate rebellion, where if I tell myself I don’t have time to do something I make time for it? Or is that once the added pressures are gone I feel more capable of accomplishing what needs to be accomplished?
I find this works even better with my writing: "Okay you just have to write this scene, or just 2,000 words today." It’s situations like this where I go beyond beyond what I expect from myself.
Do any of you experience this? Do you make deals with yourself, allow yourself to slack off only to surpass your daily quota?
I'm my own worst enemy and best friend. I feel like if I neglect something, I carry around guilt. Like if I'm working on some writing, but don't blog -- I feel guilty. I think that's just a writer thing. We're kind of...neurotic. But it's also a good thing, because it pushes us beyond what we thought we're capable of.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm all for grumbling and complaining. Because sometimes, we need to grumble. Every time I get edits back on a story, part of me is instantly resentful. I have to stomp on that part, because *I* asked for thoughts and opinions. They will only make the story better. There's that whole tendency to think things should be perfect on the first try. I've learned how that isn't the case, pretty much ever. hehe
Great post! Good luck with everything. :-)
Procrastination is sometimes a symptom of feeling overwhelmed, so breaking your writing down into bitesized chunks is a great way to make it manageable. You then feel you can achieve what you've set out to do.
ReplyDeleteI find so long as I focus on the next step I can work consistently. Which is all very well, but sometimes I need to step back and look at the big picture (my novel), in order to work out what the next steps are. It is such an enormous task to write a novel and I get easily overwhelmed. And procrastinate. And make excuses. And complain. Until I realise what's going on and buckle down again.