I’m the Master of My Procrastination

Scarlett O’Hara is famous for saying, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.” Can procrastination be a good thing? Dr. Diana Stout thinks it can be. Welcome to my blog, Dr. D.

Thank you, so much Elizabeth, for inviting me to share what I’ve learned and am practicing. So, without any further procrastination let me proclaim that

I’m the Master of My Procrastination!

Once upon a time… as all the best stories begin, I was a solid procrastinator. But on this day, I was practicing procrastination purposefully. It was January 6, 2014, with two feet of snow outside and artic temperatures that had shut down schools and businesses that day.

I was working on my first draft of Grendel’s Mother, which would become my first publication in 2016 as an indie publisher.

My activities in getting prepared to write were thus:

• Cleaned the kitchen. Thoroughly. Used a toothbrush to get close to the fixtures so I could remove otherwise-tolerable-on-any-other-day grit and grime.
• Cleaned the bathroom. Thoroughly. Same toothbrush, but threw it away when done.
• Did laundry.
• Replaced batteries in my CD player remote to eliminate having to walk across the room.
• Made hot chocolate. From scratch. For some reason, using a mix wasn’t good enough.
• Went outside and shoveled snow in gale-force wind even though maintenance would do it once the wind stopped.
• Heard the jingle of fallen change when I sat on the couch. Removed the cushions. Had to drag out the vacuum for all the sand, dust, and dirt I found, as well.
• Put on a zippered covering/jacket with a hoodie as it was getting cold inside.
• Vacuumed the rest of the house. Why not? The machine was already out.
• Dusted the furniture. Can’t have a clean floor and dirty furniture, can I?
• Restocked the toilet paper.
• Changed my jacket – didn’t like the color.
• Watered the plants.
• Watched two guys walking outside wearing no hats or gloves, who stopped and huddled a camera in one of their hands. Suddenly one backed up about 20 feet, with the other filming. The first guy ran full speed toward a drift and plunged in headfirst!!!!!! He came out, his head totally white, and they high-fived and walked on. To find another drift?
• Looked for a book to read from my TBR pile, but sorted them all first by genre. Finished, I decided I needed to be writing instead of reading, so left the TBR pile without a book.
• Changed my jacket again. Didn’t like the fit or the lack of pockets.
• Finally, at my desk, I thought I would begin.
• Saw a blog on my desk I’d been working on the night before and added new words to it.
• Changed my jacket yet again. The last one didn’t have a hood.
• Okay, NOW, I’m ready to do some novel writing on Grendel’s Mother.
• No, not yet. I need to turn up the heat and take off the jacket
• My stomach growled. I was hungry.

Now, to you, that list looks like procrastinating activities you’d do, right? Certainly, they’re activities I pursued in the past wanting to avoid writing.

But, in this case, I was procrastinating purposefully. I was mulling over my story—and taking advantage of every distraction possible, because I was at a place that I didn’t want to skip—yes, that sagging middle. For once, I wanted to write through the sag, hoping to come up with a wonderful plot turning twist, hoping my subconscious would provide.

No such luck. I returned to the book—after I’d eaten—and ended up skipping past that troublesome spot.

By summer, the first draft was finished but with several more holes. Then, my mother got sick and died in July. Quickly after, I was getting ready to teach five college classes for the fall semester. And then, in early November 2014, I was in a 22-car pileup. I was okay, but the car wasn’t. However, pure exhaustion finally took hold.

During that last half of the year, I’d been filling the holes around these events, editing, but ever so slowly. Writing only a few sentences at a time. Sleep was taking precedence when I wasn’t working.

I started editing the book heavily in 2015 and by the middle of that year, I was let go from my job. Creative writing slowed down again as I became an adjunct teacher for that fall semester, which would be my last semester of teaching. Editing became available only mere minutes at a time rather than hours.

But finally, in March 2016, I published Grendel’s Mother. Since then, in 7 years, I’ve published 13 more books, plus edited an anthology where I authored one of the stories. Currently, I’m working on 4 more projects to publish this year.

Next month, from June 5-16, I will be teaching a class I’ve taught before on procrastination, which includes the science behind why we procrastinate and from where it occurs within us, and how you can eliminate it altogether, unless like me that day, you want to purposefully procrastinate with reason.

The class has minimal homework with short lectures that are packed with information that will provide you with lots of aha moments. Ideally, you would come to class with a project that you’re struggling with.

Curious? Interested? Click here for more information. I’d love to share with you what I’ve learned and still practice with success.

Wouldn’t you like to be a Reformed Procrastinator like me? Where you become the master of procrastination rather than it controlling you?

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About Diana

Dr. Diana Stout is an award-winning writer in multiple genres, a screenwriter, author, blogger, and writing coach who travels with a crowd: characters who each want their voice in a book and folks who have passed and are talking from the other side.

Currently, she’s plotting a historical Gothic romance novella due later this summer, to be followed by a contemporary psychological (Gothic) thriller based on ancestors from the novella. Additionally, she’s completing a couple writer’s resource books. You can learn more about Dr. Stout at her website, Sharpened Pencils Productions.

Do you struggle with procrastination? Check out her June 5-16, 2023 Master Class: Using (& Avoiding) Procrastination, limited to 25 people. Procrastinate on signing up and you could lose out.