Thea

Editing
“Listen to me, Luigi; we’re always on the lookout for new stage plays and this one sounded interesting. Ingenious plot, bit of sex, incest, prostitution, a potential murder and ending up with a suicide.” He put down the cigar he had been waving like a conductor’s baton and folded his hands on his expansive belly. “What’s not to like?”
“…[Read more]

UNTITLED (437 words)

I don’t know where I am.
No, really, I don’t.
You’ll think I’m kidding when I tell you about this later and we’ll probably have a good laugh about it, but don’t be surprised if it takes more than one bottle of wine for me to get over today’s little episode. This whole thing at Moira’s Mystical Meditation is freaking me out…[Read more]

Thanks @philippaeast, there’s some good stuff in there isn’t there? Considering printing out a copy for when I start to query (a while away yet)

I so agree that it’s useful to drill down into the actual function of a particular behaviour (e.g. scrolling on Twitter, ironing socks etc.)

It MAY be avoidant procrastination (i.e. continuously putting off something we’re for some reason afraid to face). Or that same behaviour could be a much-needed and healthy break from the keyboard / page -…[Read more]

Great thread, Daeds, thanks

To be clear, the wiki definition, or the Oxford Dictionary, or Chambers, or whatever, is only the definition that whoever wrote the definition decided on. It’s useful as clarification or as a pointer if you really don’t know how to use the word. That said, even if it is wholly and exclusively correct* then the understanding of commitment remains…[Read more]

I think what writers commonly refer to as procrastination is not quite the same as that definition, anyway. Sometimes forcing yourself to write can be the worst thing for your writing, and doing something else can be what you need to get your head into the right place.

You ever meet anyone with any kind of attention deficit disorder Alan?

Procrastination is nothing to do with commitment! It is everything to do with recognising that you need something completely different sometimes to get the authorly juices flowing again. I do it – it doesn’t mean I’m not committed at all.

I prefer to call it what it is and look at WHY I’m doing it. If it’s simply time-wasting, then I give myself…[Read more]

Actually playing something like Freecell occupies the surface part of your brain and liberates the sub-conscious to do a lot of sorting out. Or something like that. My terminology is all wrong.

Sometimes what feels like procrastination is valuable thinking time…

That’s a very sweeping statement.

Good point @Richardb about the guitar playing.

And @alainrain, I think we all struggle and procrastinate from time to time because writing can be tough.

Up to my neck in astrolabe pictures and nary an idea as yet. Still, there’s a week left. Plenty of time!

Absolutely @raine. Where does the guilt come from? Because come it does. Every time someone asks me what I’m up to and I have to admit to spending most of my spare time writing but, no, it’s not published. And, yes, I have spent the last seven years doing this. I try to rationalise it by thinking of lots of perfectly acceptable but equally…[Read more]

Haha just seen your comment, Ath. 76,000 words so far on NaNo this year – I’m not quite as fast as you’re making out. (Also only 5 books a week maximum, usually)
I think it depends what you write as well. I find urban fantasy is very speedy. Fantasy and historical are a bit slower. Sci-fi is slower to write again. Horror seems to be somewhere in…[Read more]

RL = Real Life