I was just thinking in the shower (it’s no secret it’s my favourite place to think), and I realised there is one step more to my writing procrastination problem that I need to deal with: impatience.
My mother (among many others, no doubt) can well attest to the fact that I have something of an impatient personality. She often tells the story that when I was a child and I came to her and said I wanted to learn how to do something (for example, sew, cook, do something on the computer) she soon discovered that her life was much easier if she instructed me immediately. Then I’d happily amuse myself (hopefully for a while – if not, sorry Mum!). If she didn’t, I’d nag incessantly. Once I wanted to know something, I wanted to know it right then.
I just realised that this impatient streak hits my writing too. It explains absolutely perfectly why the second half of my draft novel (the first one, set in Japan) is nowhere near as good as the first half – in my opinion and according to feedback. I just wanted it to be finished, so in the last half I took less care and used the “near enough is good enough” philosophy a bit too often. That, combined with the fact that I was writing it to a deadline – the best way to overcome my procrastination – led to a flawed product.
My big hope is that just the process of having realised this will help solve the problem. As I said, this weekend I’m planning to get back to some rewriting of said “impatiently finished” novel, so we’ll see if I can do it patiently. If nothing else, I’m going to start the fixing-up process with the second half of the manuscript, the neglected-by-my-impatience half, so at least the attention each bit’s been given might balance out a bit.
Anyone out there recognise the combination of procrastination and impatience, or is it just me?
Oh yes! I definitely have this weird combination too! I put things off and off and when I finally decide to do them, I just want to get it out of the way. It also ties in with my tendency to have lots of ideas and start projects but taper off a bit when it comes to see them through. I have to really force myself to finish a project properly.
Just wanted to say, too, I haven’t been commenting much lately, but I have been enjoying reading about your writing process. It’s so interesting hearing about the everyday ups and downs involved – I hope it’s helping you with your writing, it’s certainly entertaining for me to read.
Hi Guera, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one
And I also recognise myself in your lots of ideas and projects approach that aren’t easy to finish. 100% ditto.
Yes, documenting my fiction writing battles here definitely helps me get more and better writing done. Not enough (or as much as I’d like), but it’s still progress. Nice to hear from you – I know you’re having a really busy time.
Impatience? Just the story of the story of my life, is all. I sympathize! I can’t tell you how many times the same thing has happened to me in my writing. With me, it usally goes something like this: I know what I want to write, know how I want to write it. But I can’t find the right context I want to use, the write words to grasp my ideas with. And I frustrate easily. Then I just start writing whatever, so long as it follows the general idea. And then I go back and get upset at the byproduct, not impressed.
Hi Asia, I’m always glad to discover fellow sufferers! Well at least I’m working on the impatience problem and hope to improve, one day …