In Extreme Cases...

[queenoftheskies]

Do you think that devotion to a writing routine/preparation for writing can become procrastination?

Comments

[telaryn.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Admittedly I swing too far in the opposite direction, but I've known people who've gotten so caught up in their research/prep work that actually sitting down and penning their story just keeps getting put off in favor of "more research".

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

Do you mean procrastination from writing, or procrastination from doing something else?

For me, it's both. I write best when there's something else I should be doing. And sometimes I know I'm using "it needs a little more planning" as an excuse not to do any real writing.

[jim0052.livejournal.com]

"Not as much as posting to the LJ when you would really rather be writing," quoth a fellow procrastinator. :-)

[elvesforeyes.livejournal.com]

Depending how much time it takes up, I'd say yes.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

since you said "in extreme cases"...i'll say, hell yeah. maybe even some not-so-extreme cases. too many things that need to be "just so" makes it far too convenient to say it wasn't your* fault you* didn't write today. waiting till everything is Absolutely Perfect before you* sit down and write, is balderdash.


* i mean of course the rhetorical you, there.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[shawn-scarber.livejournal.com]

Yes. But that doesn't mean that you might not need to procrastinate.

[elialshadowpine.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i've seen it become that for a lot of people.

i need a lot of prep before i can write ~ it's just part of my process. so it really depends on the reasons for not beginning the actual writing itself.

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Anything can become procrastination.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Devotion to a routine where everything must be just so for you to write can definitely become procrastination.

I remember that phase of my writing life. I had to be at my desk in the back room, with door closed, the room had to be clean, I had to light a candle, the right music had to be playing... you can see where this could shave lots of minutes off one's available writing time.

When my lovely daughter arrived, my writing room turned nursery and I became more realistic about my writing time. I can write pretty much anywhere, now, in almost any situation. I don't have time to be pernickety about it any more.

[calene.livejournal.com]

Totally.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

God yes. You can get all wound up in preparing your space, like a dog circling 'round three or five times before lying down, and then require that the space by Just So, with That Hot Drink on the sidetable, Just the Right Music, etc...

There are more excuses than words for books!

[steve-vernon.livejournal.com]

I'd like to answer you, but I haven't had my afternoon coffee yet...

[mark-west.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I have, in the past, written so many notes for something in an attempt not to start working on it that the notes end up twice as long as the finished product - providing, of course, that said product gets finished!

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

Oh, yah.

That was one of the biggest hurdles I had to defeat when I started writing seriously again.

On the other hand, now it's gone in the opposite direction. I had a lot of non-writing work I should have gotten done today, and I ended up spending at least a couple of hours this evening writing instead . . .