Procrastination or Preparation?
So I’m working on edits and, as often happens, my attention wanders and I start thinking about a scene that maybe should be included. I wander away from the computer, lost in my head, and eventually pick up the book I’m currently reading. Ten minutes later, I turn to Tool 41 in Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. Here are a few snippets from the chapter:
Almost all writers procrastinate, so there’s a good chance that you do too. Even among professionals, delay takes many forms. The film reviewer checks her e-mail messages for the tenth time. The novelist makes yet another trip to Starbucks, his fourth tall vanilla latte of the day. The famous scholar stares into space. So don’t feel down if you find it hard to get started on that business report or college assignment.
Hmmm…that sounds a little bit familiar. I read on:
The word procrastinate derives from the Latin word cras, meaning “tomorrow.” Never write today what you can put off until tomorrow. With that sentiment, writers experience procrastination as a vice, not a virtue. During the process of not writing, we doubt ourselves and sacrifice the creative time we could use to build a draft.
Or in my case, edit one.
What would happen if we viewed this period of delay not as something destructive, but as something constructive, even necessary? What if we found a new name for procrastination? What if we called it rehearsal?
Okay, now he has my attention. I like the sound of rehearsal a lot better, though it doesn’t please the part of me that needs to see progress in hard copy.
A wonderful teacher of writing named Donald Graves began to notice that even little children engage in this process of mental preparation. He discovered that the best young writers rehearsed what they wanted to say. And why not?…We all rehearse, and that includes writers. Our problem is that we call it procrastination or writer’s block.
The author goes on to say that, to write with your hands, you must write in your head.
I sure hope that holds true for the edits that require writing. I’m not confused about what is preparatory and what is just dragging my feet. I did spend the time thinking about the scene and eventually inserted it, which required changes elsewhere. The preparation, or rehearsal, made the action much smoother, I think.
Do you get impatient with yourself (or feel guilty) when you are working on the story in your head instead of with your hands? I do. I’m hoping Tool 41 will help me relax about it.
Thanks, BJ, for your reference to my book “Writing Tools.” Happily, I read it as I was stuck on the editing of a new book manuscript “The Glamour of Grammar.” This latest book has been going too slow, and I’ve been a bit depressed about it. Who would have guessed that the best advice for me would be strategies I described in my last book. So my current procrastination is over — excuse me while I go rehearse. Cheers. — rpc
Great post and very timely. I’ve been procrastinating much lately and not getting it on paper. When I’m not actively writing, I feel guilty. Now I know all that writing in my head is rehearsal.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ll have to check out Clark’s book.
@ RPC I am really enjoying the book and happy that it helped me in such a way to help its author. Looking forward to the new book!
@Robin I understand the lulls in the creative cycle, but wow the lulls in edits make me nervous. We’re in it together, eh?
i love donald graves! and now i get to check out clark. how cool is that?
i am so thankful to learn that i’ve been rehearsing all this time — who would’ve guessed?!
actually, to be honest, i DO believe in this: I know I have to percolate (rehearse) before I can write…and sometimes it takes longer than i like…
Very nice post! I also like the notion of procrastination being rehearsal. I myself need time to digest new ideas until I can put them into the proper words. I make notes and then go off staring into space until I seem to hear this clicking noise and without actively thinking about it solved the problem. Procrastination isn’t necessarily something bad.
I like to think of this sort of procrastination as incubation.
I think there are numerous examples of things that aren’t actually writing that could be counted as preparation.
I do a lot of thinking and visualising scenes and such in my head. It’s not wasting time. It’s something I need to do before planning and actually writing.
Great post!