Poet Edward Young famously called procrastination ‘the thief of time,’ although I can’t imagine the distractions available to him in the 1700s were on a par with my own favourite online diversionary activities. I thrive on deadlines, so when I’m really up against it you won’t catch me procrastinating at all: I’ll have my nose to the grindstone until the work’s done. But at the start of each month, when my column deadlines seem weeks away, and there’s nothing terribly urgent to do, I am first in line for a diploma in faffing. Housework becomes far more appealing than looking over my edits, and the sudden urge to defrost the freezer means I can ignore the pile of receipts I keep meaning to put in order for my accountant.
The biggest ‘time thief’ for all writers is the internet. Before Christmas, when I was running out of time for the latest draft of my book, I switched off the router at 11am and turned it back on at 3pm, leaving myself an hour each side for essential email admin. I was astounded by the increase in my productivity for those four hours, without the ability to check Facebook, or post not-terribly-funny quips on Twitter.
In the spirit of procrastination I dipped into Twitter to find out what other distractions tempt my fellow writers away from their work:
At work – research, talking to people (not so much procrastination as interesting stuff). At home – tidying and cleaning. @ScribblerNE
Boden website. Googling luxury villas I’ll NEVER be able to afford. General social media meandering. @HazelGaynor
Vitally important housework that only became vital when I had a deadline. Like cleaning the grouting. Plus naps. @RubyReckless
Facebook and Twitter on rotation. Googling scary illnesses I might have. Refreshing inbox. More Facebook. Repeat endlessly. @catherinecooper
Twitter, cleaning, it’s lovely out let’s make the most of the nice weather… @charleybarley20
Tumblr & new puppy! @KaraBraden
A sudden need to bake cakes! @joceejo
Puppies aside (and actually I don’t think that’s procrastination – puppies need company, right?) it all boils down to two distractions: housework and the internet. With that in mind all I need to do is switch off the wifi and hire a housekeeper, and I’ll have no excuse not to write.
I’ll just have a quick look on the internet to see how much housekeepers are…
How do you procrastinate? Leave me a comment, tweet me, or join the conversation on Facebook!