Since I’m having some trouble writing today, I may as well share some links on that nemesis of the writer, Procrastination! (fanfare)
Task and environmental strategies (uh huh)
eHow also has 7 (what’s this lucky number business?)
Writer’s block or procrastination? Slate takes on Ellison and Capote.
They went so far as to devote an entire issue to the issue (heh)
UNC is happy to lecture you about it (feels like a wag of the finger)
The thing is, they all claim it’s based on fear of failure or success or perfectionism and I’m not buying it, at least not today. Slate, again, has a better explanation in their piece on great novels about procrastination (how fabulous is that?)!
“…a suffocating sense of irresolution about where it is the writer wants to be, both mentally and physically. Just as the narrators cannot stick too long with one train of thought before whirling off on a tangent (and then, inevitably, spiraling back to where they left off), they can never attain lasting satisfaction in their environments: Large, time-wasting swaths of Concrete are consumed with whether or not Rudolf will leave Peiskam for Palma, while Dyer flits restlessly from Rome to Greece to Oxford.” Yep, that’s more like it.
Side note: I just picked up my new glasses (pictures to follow). The lenses were cut digitally and everything is crystal clear. It’s amazing. I give all the credit to Julia at Gogosha Optique.
Diane Sherlock 