Do you know?

If so please tell.

This morning as I sat down to write, for some reason it came to me that I MUST tidy the bookcase. I put the tall books together and then the smaller books, and was one step away from colour co-ordination. HELP!

Do you have a cure for procrastination, or an avoidance tale worse than mine, so I don’t feel so bad.

Dawn,

It’s what’s known in the trade as displacement activity. I heard of one writer who had it so bad she once found herself tidying her daughter’s doll’s house…

I’m completely the opposite. I write to avoid washing the dishes!

It may be that you’re not comfortable with what you are writing at the moment. Have you tried starting afresh on something else? Maybe write from a POV you don’t normally use or in a different genre?

Dee.



<Added>

Of course the other way it manifests itself is by being constantly logged on to WW...

;)

It's all right! Don't panic - it happens to everyone. If you really can't keep away from that bookcase, sit down right where you are, grab the first pencil and paper that comes to hand and write down "I love my bookcase to be tidy because ..." and then come up with 3 things off the top of your head. Then put down the paper, sort out the bookcase with that glow of pride that comes from knowing you've written something(!) - anything!! - and when you've finished the case, take that paper and then write one page of stuff, any old gumph, it doesn't matter ("the cat sat on the bookcase" is fine).

From that stuff, underline 3 things which spark you off. Wait five minutes while you think about what colour to paint the bookcase, then look at the paper again, take the 3 things you've underlined and make a poem, story, novel incident out of them.

Most of all, enjoy your unusual and very creative thought-process approach!

Good luck!

Anne B
xxx

Thanks Dee and Anne - very helpful and you made me laugh, 'tidying the doll's house' - that's so funny.

I'm revising a first draft, you know what it's like once you start it's enjoyable, it's just starting each day, that's ALL. I'll focus on a scene a day and seeing how that goes.

Thanks for listening,
Dawn,

1) Write anything, even if it's just a shopping list.

2) Tell everyone you are going to write for a specified period of time or for a specified number of words so that you feel obliged to actually do it.

3) Spend ten minutes writing something totally different from your usual writing - in my case really really terrible poems. This sometimes sparks a new idea off or it makes you realise that the work you had been procrastinating about is actually far superior and you want to carry on with it right away.

4) Disconnect from the internet or write in a place with no access to computers - I go to the reading room in the British Museum.

5) Do something different with the problem piece - write a page on each character, or a chapter plan, or write a completely different ending that you had planned - anything to give you a different angle on your story.

6) If all else fails, open a bottle of wine and sit on the sofa watching TV. There's always tomorrow...

Sue

Hmmm….

1) Make it a what-I-would-rush-out-for-if-I-won-the-lottery list.

2) They wouldn’t believe me and I wouldn’t feel obliged!

3) Brilliant idea! I did this once and it is now 70,000 words of another novel.

4) Disconnect from the internet??? Disconnect from the… Disc… Arrrrrggggghhhh!!!!

5) Yes, that sounds good.

6) Now you’re cooking, girl!!!

ee.

I went for No. 6 (with computer, without tv) - a glass of Merlot, (or two) did the trick. Of course I won't do this all the time... OK maybe I will.

Dawn,

worksh for me.... hic!