You know the show No Reservations on the Travel Channel (its hosted by Anthony Bourdain). He travels to places ranging from Beijing to Milwaukee’s own Bacchus, eats lots of food, all voiced over with snarky and poignant comments. My husband and I love I; we usually have an episode or two waiting on the DVR for slow TV nights.
When I was brainstorming for potential blog names, my oh-so-clever husband decided “No Motivation” would be a lovely play on a favorite show’s title. While not quite on theme with my blog’s primary topic, there was something there. Why, you ask. It’s simple.
I like to procrastinate…a lot. During college, I once started a paper the night before it was due. No biggie, you say? I started it at midnight. It was due at 8 am. The last pages were printing as class started, resulting in a mad dash across campus (thank heavens I attended a small college). The final draft was 17 pages long and earned a B (I got lucky, real lucky). This was just one of many scenarios where I wonder how my paper would have turned out if I started writing 10 hours earlier, or two days, or a week? Would starting earlier have helped or hurt? Logic says spending more time on a paper (or project, or cleaning, or anything), will culminate in a better result.
Or am I one of the rare few who just work better with a deadline? That deadline gives me an excuse to drop all other responsibilities in my life to accomplish one, focused task. Once focused, I’m not distracted by TV, the internet, parties, or people. All of that can be addressed after the DEADLINE. And people understand what that means: DEADLINE. When I tell my mom I can’t visit her because I have a deadline, I get an offer to help instead of the “mom guilt” (you know what I’m talking about – sorry Mom).
We recently put our house on the market and purchased a new house. This all started in November, and we moved at the end of December. During that time, my husband was especially busy at work so most of the physical preparations were left to me. In that time (with a lot of help), our things were packed into boxes, most rooms were painted, and everything was cleaned. The new house was cleaned top to bottom with bleach (I love the smell of bleach the way some people love the smell of permanent markers), and we moved most of the boxes. Two days after Christmas, the movers moved the big stuff and we moved the rest of the boxes. Then we fixed all the little putsy stuff at the old house to make it perfect for selling. During this time, everything else was one hold. We didn’t go out, have playdates, I didn’t make many dinners. I was focused and had a deadline. No one gave me hard time about neglecting them (even the kids – they were awesome), they knew I had a deadline and I would be back to normal after it.
Here I am post move, post deadline. For months I have put off writing my book because of moving. I now have a two page list of small things to fix (I’m the handyman in the house – there is something so satisfying about fixing a toilet or hanging a light – but that’s another blog), laundry to do, clothes to sell on Craigslist, and the house is dirty already!
So, dear reader, that’s why we’re here. This is a weekly blog about me writing my first novel, based in Milwaukee. Entertaining you with my foibles is my deadline. I won’t have anything to tell you if I don’t write my book. My characters are waiting, and so is the city. With that, let’s hear your favorite ways of procrastinating? What do you do when you want to avoid a looming task?
