Audrey Campbell’s Blog

Funny word, procrastination, the way it begins with “pro”, like it’s in favor of doing something . . . and it is . . . tomorrow.  It wants to do it today, but it just can’t.  I’ve been thinking of writing this blog for a while and kept putting it off.  Now, I’d planned to do something else and instead, here I am, delaying that until tomorrow.

I find that I work well under pressure, maybe because I get so much practice at it, but I don’t leave everything to the last minute.  When writing, I get things on paper (virtual or real) right away.  Then I think about them, let them stew, work out the logics.  I put off going back to them until I’m ready or the deadline looms.  Deadlines are great for clearing the cobwebs and pushing the brain into gear.

I’ve been revising a chapter for the past two weeks (or so).  Every time I looked at it, I would change the wording here and there.  Then I’d re-read it.  Where was the flow?  Something was missing.  The third or fourth time, frustration set in.  I printed it out . . . and left it to sit.  I went on to other things and tried not to think about it.  Finally, I chose a day and declared, “This is the day I figure this out.”  Sitting in silence, rebuffing distractions from family and work, I read.  No revising at first, I just read.  My reading is at speaking speed, which is fairly slow.  As I read, I listened to the flow.  Then I went back and, wherever the story jerked to the next idea, I smoothed it out.  Once the first fix came to mind, the next one followed more easily and then the next one.  Finally, the story moved.

Now, I don’t recommend putting everything off (especially things like bills), but sometimes procrastination means thinking long and hard about how to proceed before moving forward.  As the saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.”