Procrastination
by robinhobb on May.04, 2010, under Robin Hobb and Sara Creasy
Sara says it’s my turn to make a post. So I think I’ll saddle up one of my favorite hobby horses and go on about writers and writing and procrastination.
Of course, before I can start, I need to go upstairs and put a warm-up in my coffee mug. And maybe finish the breakfast dishes in the sink. My office is in the basement dungeon. I have a sparkling view of a window well full of dead leaves. Hm. Maybe I should go clean out those leaves before I do anything else. It’s possible they are rotting the window frame or making the window well more attractive to ants.
And that, you see, is how it starts. It’s easy to put off writing. That scene in your head is right there, so clear. It’s so much easier to keep replaying the sword fight, witty repartee, and that first kiss than it is to actually sit down, put fingers on the keyboard, and write the other sentences, the ones that set the scene and establish the characters. All the stuff you have to write before you get to that one killer line. Who wants to type all that?
And if you have a life besides writing, if you have a job or some children, a spouse, a floor that needs sweeping, a lawn that is overgrown, a dirty catbox, etc. it’s so easy to say, “I can write anytime. I’d better do those essential chores right away.”
Harder to say, “Writing is my essential chore, and I’m doing it first.”
So I think that if you want to be a writer, you should put a sign above your desk that says, “Right here, Write now.” Or “Write here, Right now!” Whichever you like.
Because in my opinion, you need to catch those stories while you can. Ten years from now, no one will know if your lawn was mowed today or if your catbox reeked. You and possibly your readers will remember if today is the day you started or finished that story you’ve been meaning to write.
Sometimes I help out with Writers Workshops. Or guest lecture about writing. I’m always sad for the people who come up afterwards and say, “I have this great idea for a story (book) and I’m going to write it right after I finish my thesis. ” “I’m writing it right after this wedding insanity is over.” “I’m writing it as soon as my kids are out of diapers.” “Once I retire, I’m going to write my novel.”
No, my friends. No, you won’t.
It may happen that after the wedding or after the kids start kindergarten, you WILL write a story or book. But it won’t be the one you told me about today.
Stories and books have freshness dates. The fifteen year old who tells me a wonderful synopsis of a sword and sorcery tale should write some of that story NOW, tonight. Stop twittering or putting entries on MySpace about the story you’re going to write. Put words on a page NOW. Why? Because the story you told me belongs to your fifteen year old self. Your 25 year old self, or your 40 year old self cannot write it. Not the way you would write it now. Experiences in your own life will change you and your story. Write it now, even if it’s badly spelled or mawkish or you never do get the ending write. Write it now, and save it, like a flower pressed between the pages of a book. Even if it’s not publishable now, you will come back to it later and find there a voice and a freshness of experience that you will never have again.
And this is true if you are 45 right now and just thought of your story last night. It won’t wait until you retire. Capture it now, even if it’s just one page a night. One page a night makes 365 pages a year, a respectable length for a tale.
Sometimes teenagers say to me that they don’t ‘know’ enough to write a book yet. I want to tell you that right now, you know more about living in this world, about being 16 in 2010 than I could ever know. No research will give me that. That is what ‘write what you know’ really means. Not that you must be an expert on horses to write that horse scene, but that you need to write from your own bones, right now. Use getting cut from the team or that special kiss or even the deadly boredom of studying for a class you hate. It’s all grist for the mill, and it belongs to you.
Sometimes, in my opinion, writers think too much. More than once, I’ve met aspiring writers with bulging valises full of their research. They show me maps, time lines, sketches of the characters, a brief political history of the world, notes on geography and the gross national product of the kingdom . . . well, perhaps not that bad. But what I’m saying is that they’ve spent hours and days and months writing everything except the story! It’s wonderful that your research is so detailed, but put your eyes on the prize and Tell Me A Story! Your story, the one only you can write.
Speaking of that, you know what I need to go do right now? Balance my check book, make a deposit, clean the cat box, fold the two loads of stacked up clean laundry and change the sheets on my bed.
You know what I’m going to do instead of those essential tasks?
I’m going to go work on my book.
Robin
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- Unlikely inspiration Robin talked about procrastination - yep, that’s me. A few years (yes, years!) into writing Song of Scarabaeus, I was still only two-thirds done with my first draft because… well, mostly because “there’s always time” to write later. In a last-ditch effort to finish this on-again, off-again manuscript, I grabbed...
May 5th, 2010 on 2:50 am
Wow, that was a long post.
Writing it probably kept you away from your book longer than the laundry would have.
But don’t mind me - get back to the Dragon Keepers. I want to see what happens when they - oops, I forgot. Not everybody here has read Dragon Haven yet.
May 5th, 2010 on 1:11 pm
Ha! I wish she was going to write another dragon book.
Just kidding, Robin! I will literally read anything you write.
I don’t mean this to be an insult in ANY WAY whatsoever, but when I first started hearing things about the Soldier Son Trilogy, I thought there was no way I was going to like it. But since YOU wrote it, I decided to give it a try. Lo and behold, I adored it! That was about the time when I decided that I would read any books of yours.
I don’t know if you’ll be answering questions, but I am curious. You must get a lot of pressure from (entirely well-meaning, like me!) fans to go back to one of your beloved worlds. I also know from your website and blog that you won’t give in to the pressure just because a new Farseer book would make loads of moola. But do you ever find yourself thinking about your characters and imagining what they’re up to since you saw them last? Perhaps not in a write-a-book, oooh-look-at-shiny-Farseer-trilogy, way, but in a catching-up-with-old-friends way?
May 5th, 2010 on 1:13 pm
Thank you for this entry. I’ve taken up a hobby of getting writing advice from several authors - by either chatting with them, reading their books, or by reading blogs/interviews, etc. Lots of authors mention to not give up, or something to that effect, but I haven’t gotten the kick in the pants-like advice you just offered.
You completely nailed my situation. I keep finding reasons NOT to write. I keep saying I’ll start tomorrow. I’ve been “starting tomorrow” for the last ten years.
It’s funny, I know that all I’ve ever wanted to do is write, but I’m too scared to take the plunge due to the odds of actually getting and agent or book deal.
Any advice on eliminating the self-doubt, or does that come with time?
May 5th, 2010 on 2:27 pm
Cleaning out the fridge. That’s my preferred procrastination activity. Closely followed by cleaning the stove top. Strictly speaking, neither of those things are necessary unless the in-laws are dropping by, right?
May 5th, 2010 on 8:04 pm
Dane, it sounds to me like your internal editor is adjusted WAY too high. Turn it down, or turn it off. Or hit it with a hammer.
We all know that having a great title, or an amazing first sentence is essential. We all know you have to use perfect grammar and spelling, correctly punctuate dialogue and balance description, action, dialogue with character development, scene setting and plot advancement.
But you don’t have to do all that on a first draft! So when your internal editor starts saying things like “Thats a weak verb. Find a different one.” Or, “My, they’ve been talking a long time.” Just tell it to shut up.
First draft is about getting the story trapped on paper. It’s a bit like slamming a fairy between the pages of a book. (Thank you, Pressed Fairy Book!) What you get on the page may not be the vision of beauty you imagined. But once it’s on the page, you can rearrange it and clean it up.
So, I suggest that tonight, you have a ‘get it on the page’ party by yourself. Tell yourself you are going to write 3 pages. That you will not leave your keyboard until you have. You may get three pages of total garbage. But Garbage can be revised into decent prose and decent prose can become graceful.
Tonight, just get a chunk of story on paper. Or screen.
Let us know how you do.
Robin
May 5th, 2010 on 8:55 pm
Janelle, I miss writing about Fitz and the Fool. But I won’t go back to writing their story until I have a compelling plot that I feel will please the readers, me, and do justice to the characters.
So. I have plenty of other story ideas to keep me busy until then!
Robin
May 6th, 2010 on 9:33 am
Hi Robin - Thank you so much for responding. Great tips and advice. My internal editor has been battling me for years and it’s time for that little devil to lose the war. I saw this post at 2 this morning, so when you said write tonight, I’m taking that to be this evening.
Tonight starts my “get it on the page” party - my own private nanowrimo you might say (since that’s the only time I write without being self-conscious).
Before heading to work this morning, I put my journal and my pen on my night stand, so I’m revved up and ready to go.
Expect an update tomorrow!
May 6th, 2010 on 12:40 pm
I’ll be watching for it, Dane!
Robin
May 7th, 2010 on 3:19 am
Internal editors are the only thing worse than real editors. At least you can fire the real ones!
My favorite procrastination technique is to assert that I need a block of 2-3 hours to dedicate to writing before I can get anything done, and then complain that I can’t get a dedicated block of time during the week, or the weekend, or ever.
Robin’s exercise of writing 3 pages is a great way to cure that particular bugbear.
May 7th, 2010 on 9:31 am
Robin - Well…the night has come and gone, and while not the best writing ever, it’s still writing. I am a bit rusty, but that’s what additional drafts are for, right?
It felt good to get back into the swing of things and I plan on using this momentum to continue on!
Right now, my writing has a Johnny Cash/Western/Horror feel to it (don’t ask…)
Thanks again!!
May 7th, 2010 on 1:18 pm
Hm. sounds like a Joe Lansdale moment, and that’s a pretty good moment!
How many pages did you get, Dane?
Robin
May 7th, 2010 on 1:31 pm
Robin,
Hard to say type set since I was writing in my writing journal, but it was 3 pages front and back.
I’ve been listening to old ’50s country, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Southern Country Rock (Creedence and Skynrd) and Lyle Lovett at work all day today to keep me in the frame of mind. This is the most excited I’ve been about writing in a very long time.
Lansdale is a good comparison. What’s coming out in my head also seems to have a little bit of Dark Tower, Ghost Rider, and Jonah Hex leanings as well. I’m trying to put an original spin, but influences always seem to come up regardless.
May 7th, 2010 on 3:59 pm
Dane, don’t worry too much about influences. Once they have passed through the filter that is you, so much stuff will have been mixed in and added that it will be unique.
3 pages, front and back, handwritten isn’t too bad at all. For me, the best part of that sort of writing is that when I start entering it onto a screen, it grows. Essentially, as it goes from handwriting to typewritten, it’s getting its first edit. And usually in the process, I’ll add in details or find a more clever way for my hero to retort to the insult, or whatever.
Now, I think you should add some Gordon Lightfoot and maybe some Kris Kristofferson to your mix. But that’s just me . . .
Robin
May 8th, 2010 on 12:45 am
Oh trust me, all the Highwaymen are accounted for on my playlist.
Gordon Lightfoot hasn’t quite made it to the promised land yet.
May 8th, 2010 on 9:03 am
Lots of useful advices, Robin, as usual.
I have spent years trying to write through the “internal editor” tyranny, and boy it was painful. I was approaching the desk only with anxiety. I remember someone asked me one day to draw my feeling, and I draw a pen tied up by barbed wires ! I guess the only reason I kept on writing was that not writing was even more unbearable.
Now since three years around, I’m experiencing the joy of knowing you can always go back to what you wrote and clean it…as many times as you want…It makes the writing much more free, and pleasurable. And actually, when I’m really in the process, the more I free the horse and let it goes where it needs to go, the best are the scenes.
Writing is good.
May 8th, 2010 on 12:30 pm
It sounds like what I really need to do is take up writing so I can get some housework done!!!
ps Good on you Dane!
May 9th, 2010 on 3:28 pm
Dane, where are you hiding?
Robin
May 10th, 2010 on 1:04 am
Dane, you know, we can all see you hiding under the desk in the back room of the bookstore. Not that we mind that you’re there, as long as you’ve got a notebook under there with you . . .
RH
May 10th, 2010 on 8:08 am
Have no fear, I am here. Internet usage was intermittent this weekend due to a wedding and Mother’s Day. Since this is my wife’s first Mom’s Day, lots of folks wanted to celebrate. We had a whirlwind tour of visiting an I’m just now getting back into the swing of things. Production was definitely much lower this weekend, but I still kept my mini notepad with me to jot down ideas as they popped up throughout the day. That seemed like the best way to handle the hustle and bustle of te weekend.
How do you handle a day like that where the only time to really write is when you should be asleep?