(source)
I
have recently decided to undertake a Post A Day challenge on Wordpress. On the
first full day, I took one look at the Add New Post page and I willfully
ignored it. What did I do instead? I checked Google+. I checked Twitter. I
checked Facebook. I trimmed my nails. I listened to a Nerdist podcast. I fired
off an e-mail. I did some yoga. A little of this, a little of that. The Add New
Post page stared back at me, the cursor blinking accusingly.
So I read a book.
I could do the blog post later.
In
college, I managed to turn procrastination into an art form. I would put off
term papers and presentations until days (if not one day) before their due
dates, then rush to the library to gather resources, then spend a sleepless
night scouring the Internet and writing/preparing the paper. I would hand it in
the next day, get it back a few weeks later with a big, fat, red, A or A- on
the front page. Score one for me. (This talent used to confuse my mother in
high school and she's still baffled by it today.)
My roommates were always
astonished; they would practice and rehearse for days on end (they were all
music majors) for the big performance, as where for my big performance (a paper
on the Electoral College, anyone?), I would take a quick trip to the library,
write all night long, grab a coffee, go to class and hand in the paper. No big
deal.
Nothing
like a deadline to get you going, right?
The same happens with a lot of us in November: either you write every
day, against the clock striking midnight night, trying to make that daily word
count graphic skyrocket a few thousand words; or you put off the daily word
counts until it's the weekend before Nov. 30 and you park your butt in a chair
and write like the wind, squeaking by with 50,001 words at 11:59:00 on Nov. 30.
I
think that's why people (including Wrimos) procrastinate: the adrenaline rush
as you finish your projects, fingers flying over the keys, the pressure
mounting, wondering whether or not you're going to make it in time. What would
happen if you didn't complete your task? For most of the Wrimos, it's probably
public mocking from friends, family and fellow Wrimos. I don't know about you,
but I couldn't handle the shame.
For
some people, that's when they do their best work: right when the clock is
ticking down. I was listening to the most recent Nerdist podcast and they were
talking with Ben Folds (pianist extraordinaire, also pretty humorous). They
asked Folds if he sits down to write, or if he's struck by inspiration. Folds
said, "I have to get struck by the deadline." Keyword: deadline. Most
of his best stuff was done on a deadline. His albums are pretty phenomenal, so
it seems as if there is some validity to putting things off until the very
last moment. Sometimes it pays off.
So
procrastinate away! Feel the rush! Do your 1667 words a day right before the
clock ticks over to the next day, or park it in a chair and finish with seconds
to spare (I rhymed!).
Jessica
Ralston is from Upstate New York, but decided it would be a brilliant idea to
teach English in Northeast China for a year. Before moving to China, she was a
copy editor at a newspaper in Western New York. She has always wanted to be a
novelist; it makes her mother nervous ("You don't have a back-up
plan?") and her 10-year-old self extremely happy. She enjoys reading,
crocheting, cooking and traveling. You can
find Jessica on Twitter (@saturdaaaay), NaNoWriMo (duendeoflorien), Google+, and
Facebook. Her blog is on Wordpress.
