Why Do We Procrastinate?
In order to stop procrastinating, we have to figure out why we procrastinate. For everyone the reason is different. Perhaps you're tired, or overscheduled, or perhaps you just forgot. Yes, these are excuses for not writing, ways of justifying your own procrastination, but you have to understand what your own unique excuse is.
In my case, procrastination tends to occur when I'm overwhelmed. I'm a natural introvert and get more than a little stressed if I've been exposed to too many people over too many days. I'm so stressed that getting anything done seems like a pipe dream.
But ultimately all of these excuses are just a mask. For the part, the underlying reason is the fear of failure. Failure is no fun. It makes us feel terrible about ourselves and it sets us back (though failure can teach us as much as success if we're paying attention).
So if your bouts of procrastination stem from fear of failure, try believing in yourself and your work. Maybe you're not the best novelist in the world and maybe the story you're working on isn't perfect, but even the most famous writer was there once. You can learn and hone your craft. Believing in yourself can help overcome procrastination.
If you're procrastinating for other reason, you'll have to do what I do when I think I'm so overwhelmed that I'll get nothing done: Place butt in chair and write anyway.
What to do About Procrastination
Most people who suffer from procrastination need more than the above statement to get things done. If you're one of those people who need a plan for everything, start by setting some goals. Get a piece of paper (don't do this on the computer) and jot down all your goals for the year. All of them. Not just writing goals, though I focus on writing goals. If one of these goals has a specific end date (such as getting your son ready for kindergarten), write the date beside the goal.
Now that you have your list, go through it carefully. Pick the top 3 or 5 things you'd really like to get done in the next year. Hopefully, that novel is pretty close to the top. You are going to make a committment to finish these top 3 or 5 things. The rest may or may not get done depending on your ability to procrastinate.
Take a look at those things on the top of your list. Break them down into smaller tasks. If you're looking at a novel, you might break it down into chapters. Perhaps you can complete each chapter in a week. I can tell you from experience that a chapter is less intimidating than an entire novel. When you break the novel down into smaller chunks, you stand a better chance of getting the nagging voice in your head that tells you you'll never get it done to shut up for a little while.
Scheduling Writing Dates
Once you've broken your novel down into smaller tasks, assign each task a deadline. Don't do this arbitrarily. Truly think about how much time you'll need to complete each chapter (if you've divided your novel into chapters). If it's going to take you 2 weeks to complete a chapter, then that should be your deadline for each chapter. Don't try to squeeze in more than that, at least on paper. If you can get ahead of schedule, great. If not, you can at least stay on schedule by being realistic.
Now here's the real trick: You have to stick to your deadlines. Schedule time to write. Make a writing date (or several writing dates) with yourself and keep it. And none of this "I can only write when I'm feeling creative" nonsense. That's one of the greatest excuses for a fiction writer to procrastinate that I've ever heard. If you're making a schedule, then you already have the idea for the novel. If you don't have the idea, you're getting ahead of yourself and need to spend some time coming up with the plot and the characters before you can schedule your work.
Deadlines are the difference between a novelist and a wanna-be-novelist. And in case you wonder if I practice what I preach, I wrote the day after major surgery. I might have written the day of major surgery, but I was under general anastetic for most of the day. The rest of the day I was having hallucinations. But, 18 hours after surgery, I was writing again, though from the bed instead of at the desk. I had deadlines and I stuck to them. This is why, as of this post, I have completed 3 novels, 2 short story collections, and 3 non-fiction books in the past 18 months. Deadlines and writing dates. Got to love them.
