You Should Be Writing
Why do writers procrastinate so much?
Currently, I need to be working on a novel. Or poetry. Or a new collection of essays I just started. Instead, I made coffee, reassured my cat, Ebenezer, that everything’s going to be okay (he’s going through a rough patch) went to the bathroom, poured coffee, and explained to Sweet Zombie why he needs to be nice to Ebenezer.
It’s been a full morning.
The truth is, this story itself is my way of procrastinating from other writing. In fact, that might be why I write on Medium.
It’s a procrastination tactic that I can feel good about.
I know why we do it. It’s because all those other things are easier than actually writing.
Do runners procrastinate their running? Do painters find anything else to do but paint? Do musicians spend more time planning than they do actually playing? I truly don’t know.
Part of the problem, of course, is that writing is hard work. But weight lifting is also hard, and I’m certain weight lifters spend lots of time doing it.
I think part of the procrastination is that it’s not the act of writing itself that we love — it’s the end product we love.
I don’t love writing as much as I love having written something.
But the main reason to procrastinate writing is self-doubt. When we get to the end of our piece, when it’s all finished and polished, what then? Then we have to go through the painful process of publishing and releasing it out into the world to be accepted or rejected, praised or critiqued.
I have a manuscript that is written and edited. Now I have to format it. That’s the real task I should be doing this morning. Instead, I decided to procrastinate by writing about procrastination.
