In Praise of Prevarication

Taking My Name In Vain

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Paul Whybrow

Full Member
Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
Apparently, from worldwide surveys asking people what their worst fault is, procrastination is said to be the thing they most regret. We all have a tendency to put off until tomorrow (or maybe the day after) what we don't want to do today.

I once had a girlfriend who gently pointed out my laggardness by buying me a coffee mug with the saying printed on it "What the wise do in the beginning, the fool does in the end."

As authors, we're commonly advised to avoid procrastination, to manage our time better and to get on with things...aiming for a daily word count by staying away from the temptation of the internet. Striving to perfect our skills, it's easy to become neurotic.

I'm laid back in my approach to life and to writing. I did go a bit berserk when I returned to creative writing in 2013, after a long lay-off, but churning out 5,000 words daily was counterproductive as it too ages editing out the crap.

At the moment, I'm at a crossroads (which I'm trying not to see as an impasse), for I've completed my fifth novel and am torn between querying and returning to self-publishing. Fretting a bit that it's a delaying tactic, I've re-read my novels over the last few weeks. My justification for doing so is that I want to know them inside out, so I can sell them effectively.

Then, this morning I spent 90 minutes following up on links posted on a Cornish witch Gemma Gary's website. Was that a waste of time, I wondered...probably not, as I found useful information for future projects. I've previously touched on white witches in my novels, as well as black magick and Druidry, but intend to explore how folklore and superstition motivate criminals. Worse still, I found the witchy site via the excellent Cornish Bird blog—which I recommend to fellow resident @Leonora. I spent four hours reading this blog last week, finding lots of stimulating facts.

My point is, there's more to being an author than just writing words. Investigating blogs is research, reading email newsletters about publishing might help me out, posting on the Colony is reassuring and reading novels borrowed from the library is a free way of broadening my understanding of how storytelling works. Even thinking about writing is writing!

Some anonymous wag once said: “Procrastination: A hardening of the oughteries.” But, I don't feel that I ought to be doing anything else if I'm not writing, for I'm always 'on' having ideas about what still needs editing and planning unwritten stories.

I certainly miss creating fresh pages, but I need to recharge my batteries while learning how to be a blogger and turning myself into a supplicant worthy of the attention of literary agents. I did a word count of all the stories and poems I've written in the last five years, coming up with 1,300,000. If I'd put that many miles on a car engine, it would have needed regular maintenance and might benefit from time turned off resting in the garage. :rolleyes:

How do you handle the sin of prevarication?

Do you feel guilty if you don't hit a daily word count?

Or, are you relaxed...in touch with your muse and ready to respond, writing when you're inspired?

tumblr_n2n4om4ORm1rwkrdbo1_500.jpg
 
Apparently, from worldwide surveys asking people what their worst fault is, procrastination is said to be the thing they most regret. We all have a tendency to put off until tomorrow (or maybe the day after) what we don't want to do today.

I once had a girlfriend who gently pointed out my laggardness by buying me a coffee mug with the saying printed on it "What the wise do in the beginning, the fool does in the end."

As authors, we're commonly advised to avoid procrastination, to manage our time better and to get on with things...aiming for a daily word count by staying away from the temptation of the internet. Striving to perfect our skills, it's easy to become neurotic.

I'm laid back in my approach to life and to writing. I did go a bit berserk when I returned to creative writing in 2013, after a long lay-off, but churning out 5,000 words daily was counterproductive as it too ages editing out the crap.

At the moment, I'm at a crossroads (which I'm trying not to see as an impasse), for I've completed my fifth novel and am torn between querying and returning to self-publishing. Fretting a bit that it's a delaying tactic, I've re-read my novels over the last few weeks. My justification for doing so is that I want to know them inside out, so I can sell them effectively.

Then, this morning I spent 90 minutes following up on links posted on a Cornish witch Gemma Gary's website. Was that a waste of time, I wondered...probably not, as I found useful information for future projects. I've previously touched on white witches in my novels, as well as black magick and Druidry, but intend to explore how folklore and superstition motivate criminals. Worse still, I found the witchy site via the excellent Cornish Bird blog—which I recommend to fellow resident @Leonora. I spent four hours reading this blog last week, finding lots of stimulating facts.

My point is, there's more to being an author than just writing words. Investigating blogs is research, reading email newsletters about publishing might help me out, posting on the Colony is reassuring and reading novels borrowed from the library is a free way of broadening my understanding of how storytelling works. Even thinking about writing is writing!

Some anonymous wag once said: “Procrastination: A hardening of the oughteries.” But, I don't feel that I ought to be doing anything else if I'm not writing, for I'm always 'on' having ideas about what still needs editing and planning unwritten stories.

I certainly miss creating fresh pages, but I need to recharge my batteries while learning how to be a blogger and turning myself into a supplicant worthy of the attention of literary agents. I did a word count of all the stories and poems I've written in the last five years, coming up with 1,300,000. If I'd put that many miles on a car engine, it would have needed regular maintenance and might benefit from time turned off resting in the garage. :rolleyes:

How do you handle the sin of prevarication?

Do you feel guilty if you don't hit a daily word count?

Or, are you relaxed...in touch with your muse and ready to respond, writing when you're inspired?

tumblr_n2n4om4ORm1rwkrdbo1_500.jpg
My husband posts to Cornish Bird - saw a hen harrier twice last week on Goonhilly. I wouldn't recognize one if it shook hands with me.
 
I tend to have the reverse problem, as soon as I start writing I get a bit obsessive and can't stop! It was very hard to put the manuscript away for a few weeks but I managed it. I'm generally of the opinion that as long as the work is progressing, you're okay. If you try and force it out when the inspiration isn't there you're kind of wasting your time.
 
I'm about 50-60,000 words in on my first ever novel and things have really slowed down, I'm really struggling ... not sure what I should do keep slogging away and it is a slog or work on something else entirely. I have an awful problem finishing projects. So I'm terrified of going this way. which is why I continue to slog ... I love beginnings, I'm excited, puffed up full of ideas, stuff often pours out and then by the time I get to where I am now everything seeems to slow to a crawl, the creativeity grinds to a halt and I'm left hanging there .... my word count is down to below 200 a day and I keep going back re-writing and re-writing like a crazy person ... does writing on computers encourage this?
 
My husband posts to Cornish Bird - saw a hen harrier twice last week on Goonhilly. I wouldn't recognize one if it shook hands with me.

I've just read A Space to Write which I think you'd like. It features Cornish writers talking about where they write and how they get inspired by Kernow's landscape and spirit. Published by Kernow Education Arts Partnership, Cornwall County Libraries has two copies.

A Space to Write - KEAP - Kernow Education Arts Partnership

A-Space-to-Write-cover-300x294.jpg
 
I'm about 50-60,000 words in on my first ever novel and things have really slowed down, I'm really struggling ... not sure what I should do keep slogging away and it is a slog or work on something else entirely. I have an awful problem finishing projects. So I'm terrified of going this way. which is why I continue to slog ... I love beginnings, I'm excited, puffed up full of ideas, stuff often pours out and then by the time I get to where I am now everything seeems to slow to a crawl, the creativeity grinds to a halt and I'm left hanging there .... my word count is down to below 200 a day and I keep going back re-writing and re-writing like a crazy person ... does writing on computers encourage this?


40-50K words in is famously a slog. But you're not far off @yanapuma. That is 3/4 of a novel's first draft. You hit 80 K, and you have a beginning, middle and end, and a change of stasis that happened for a reason, and you will have your first 'finished' novel.
Just the right point to throw a new, extra problem at your MC or get them suddenly deeper in the mess.

No matter that it's rough, and even if YOU think it's a pile of poo you'll have cracked the biggest thing. The stamina challenge. Then you can come back if you want to, and start to have fun with the re-writes.
 
I'm about 50-60,000 words in on my first ever novel and things have really slowed down, I'm really struggling ... not sure what I should do keep slogging away and it is a slog or work on something else entirely. I have an awful problem finishing projects. So I'm terrified of going this way. which is why I continue to slog ... I love beginnings, I'm excited, puffed up full of ideas, stuff often pours out and then by the time I get to where I am now everything seeems to slow to a crawl, the creativeity grinds to a halt and I'm left hanging there .... my word count is down to below 200 a day and I keep going back re-writing and re-writing like a crazy person ... does writing on computers encourage this?
Sounds a lot like me sometimes.
As KT-LN says though, 50-60K is nearly there. If I get to that point I know I've got an idea that I can make into a full novel with a bit of work. The thing is not to beat yourself up about it. I have had stories stall at the 50k mark before. What I've done is to put it away for a while and then drag it out and read it through sometime later when something else isn't working. Often I get a few ideas and then think of how it can continue.

I write when I feel inspired to write. Trying to force words down on the page is a pointless exercise with me because I know that anything that is written by me that way will be rubbish.
However, when the muse is working I write and write and can't sleep until it's down. Feast or famine with my output.
But as Paul says, writing is not just writing. I do a lot of "research" too, reading, listening to music, browsing the web, anything that gives me ideas or hones the writing skills.
 
Apparently, from worldwide surveys asking people what their worst fault is, procrastination is said to be the thing they most regret. We all have a tendency to put off until tomorrow (or maybe the day after) what we don't want to do today.

I once had a girlfriend who gently pointed out my laggardness by buying me a coffee mug with the saying printed on it "What the wise do in the beginning, the fool does in the end."

As authors, we're commonly advised to avoid procrastination, to manage our time better and to get on with things...aiming for a daily word count by staying away from the temptation of the internet. Striving to perfect our skills, it's easy to become neurotic.

I'm laid back in my approach to life and to writing. I did go a bit berserk when I returned to creative writing in 2013, after a long lay-off, but churning out 5,000 words daily was counterproductive as it too ages editing out the crap.

At the moment, I'm at a crossroads (which I'm trying not to see as an impasse), for I've completed my fifth novel and am torn between querying and returning to self-publishing. Fretting a bit that it's a delaying tactic, I've re-read my novels over the last few weeks. My justification for doing so is that I want to know them inside out, so I can sell them effectively.

Then, this morning I spent 90 minutes following up on links posted on a Cornish witch Gemma Gary's website. Was that a waste of time, I wondered...probably not, as I found useful information for future projects. I've previously touched on white witches in my novels, as well as black magick and Druidry, but intend to explore how folklore and superstition motivate criminals. Worse still, I found the witchy site via the excellent Cornish Bird blog—which I recommend to fellow resident @Leonora. I spent four hours reading this blog last week, finding lots of stimulating facts.

My point is, there's more to being an author than just writing words. Investigating blogs is research, reading email newsletters about publishing might help me out, posting on the Colony is reassuring and reading novels borrowed from the library is a free way of broadening my understanding of how storytelling works. Even thinking about writing is writing!

Some anonymous wag once said: “Procrastination: A hardening of the oughteries.” But, I don't feel that I ought to be doing anything else if I'm not writing, for I'm always 'on' having ideas about what still needs editing and planning unwritten stories.

I certainly miss creating fresh pages, but I need to recharge my batteries while learning how to be a blogger and turning myself into a supplicant worthy of the attention of literary agents. I did a word count of all the stories and poems I've written in the last five years, coming up with 1,300,000. If I'd put that many miles on a car engine, it would have needed regular maintenance and might benefit from time turned off resting in the garage. :rolleyes:

How do you handle the sin of prevarication?

Do you feel guilty if you don't hit a daily word count?

Or, are you relaxed...in touch with your muse and ready to respond, writing when you're inspired?

tumblr_n2n4om4ORm1rwkrdbo1_500.jpg
@Paul Whybrow Oh Paul, I'm a notorious procrastinator. However I often bear in mind an Italian saying, which translated into English sounds weird, but I think it gives the idea of what I'm getting at: "When your arse touches water, you learn to swim." In other words to get the writing done you have to ensure your backside is on your chair in front of your computer- er no wi-fi.
 
40-50K words in is famously a slog. But you're not far off @yanapuma. That is 3/4 of a novel's first draft. You hit 80 K, and you have a beginning, middle and end, and a change of stasis that happened for a reason, and you will have your first 'finished' novel.
Just the right point to throw a new, extra problem at your MC or get them suddenly deeper in the mess.

No matter that it's rough, and even if YOU think it's a pile of poo you'll have cracked the biggest thing. The stamina challenge. Then you can come back if you want to, and start to have fun with the re-writes.

Thanks for that advice and sorry I've been a bit out of contact ... I'm not sure what I think about it all at the moment. I have a continuing pattern of struggling to finish creative stuff ... so its partly psychological ... I think some of it at least is quite good but it doesn't feel as inspired as it was in the beginning ... and my main problem is the structure and how the parts work together towards a whole ... and I still can't figure what the main character wants?? and there are two narrators and I feel at least one of them comes across as not involved ... everything just happens to him and he just observes what is going on ... is that the difficulty of writing from 1st person POV ? I have stopped writing it and am working on a short story instead ... The problem I suppose is I'm still learning the craft ... I came to this writing lark a little late I suppose ...
 
Sounds a lot like me sometimes.
As KT-LN says though, 50-60K is nearly there. If I get to that point I know I've got an idea that I can make into a full novel with a bit of work. The thing is not to beat yourself up about it. I have had stories stall at the 50k mark before. What I've done is to put it away for a while and then drag it out and read it through sometime later when something else isn't working. Often I get a few ideas and then think of how it can continue.

I write when I feel inspired to write. Trying to force words down on the page is a pointless exercise with me because I know that anything that is written by me that way will be rubbish.
However, when the muse is working I write and write and can't sleep until it's down. Feast or famine with my output.
But as Paul says, writing is not just writing. I do a lot of "research" too, reading, listening to music, browsing the web, anything that gives me ideas or hones the writing skills.
Thanks Tim for that advice and sorry I've been a bit out of contact ... I have a continuing pattern of struggling to finish creative stuff ... so its partly psychological ... I think some of it at least is quite good but it doesn't feel as inspired as it was in the beginning ... I write everyday more or less and perhaps I am too hard on myself and I need to step back which in fact I've now done ... I'm working on a short story instead at the moment while I mull over things regarding the novel ...
 
Hi and Happy New Year

@yanapuma said and I still can't figure what the main character wants??

Maybe he doesn't even know himself. But what's his problem? If you know that, you've got the most important thing. The other narrator is either his ally, his antagonist or his archivist, or what's his function?

@Eva Ulian said "When your arse touches water, you learn to swim." Excellent :) I read that as needs must. Put yourself under pressure. Light a fire under yourself.
 
Hi and Happy New Year

@yanapuma said and I still can't figure what the main character wants??

Maybe he doesn't even know himself. But what's his problem? If you know that, you've got the most important thing. The other narrator is either his ally, his antagonist or his archivist, or what's his function?

@Eva Ulian said "When your arse touches water, you learn to swim." Excellent :) I read that as needs must. Put yourself under pressure. Light a fire under yourself.
Light a fire under myself? Well, erm, yes... hardly... :D
 
Happy New year everyone!!
@Eva Ulian said "When your arse touches water, you learn to swim." Excellent :) I read that as needs must. Put yourself under pressure. Light a fire under yourself.
maybe I light too many fire under myself not sure ... but yes I do think pushing yourself to write is a good thing ... gets that discipline going but I'm reading a book called Grit How passion and resilience are the secrets to success by Angela Duckworth and that has some interesting points to make about people becoming good at doing something ... learning a craft or excelling in sport etc. and also acquiring the ability to withstand rejection ... fascinating stuff
 
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Taking My Name In Vain

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