Procrastination Stage by Kathleen McAnear Smith

Procrastination Stage

 

Personally, I believe in spending at least a little time in the beautiful Procrastination Stage of writing. 

I’ve been working at this all summer, and quite thankful that I still have the rest of August to put off writing that is gathering like a summer storm in my mind. 

From my Procrastination Summer, I share below the keys to this stage:

1.   Know you are being called to write something. Make a deliberate choice to not do it. In my case, I know Father God has graciously called me to write my first novel.  I use this time to argue, which puts off writing for at least a month. It goes like this:

 “Lord, really!?” 

“But I’ll put half the family in this novel and then they won’t speak to me.”

“I’ve always written ……..” (fill in your own blank and count that as your day’s writing).

Pray, “Lord, I’ll just wait on You (do say this in your most Holy prayer voice), to give me the story line”. This prayer is most effective when you know He’s already, deep within you, given you the storyline. You may extend this time with repentance. Seriously, it is useful to ask Him why you aren’t quite ready to write.

2.     2. Decide on a very necessary project that must be completed before you do anything else. In my case it is sorting and clearing the loft which has three countries worth of treasures from living overseas. I have been procrastinating on my procrastination project, and now I have a ritual of taking my morning coffee up in the attic in the heat of this summer. “Reminds me of teaching school in Jamaica”, I tell myself as I reflect on paperwork and old photos and even letters saved by my mother. The lovely outcome of this is the peace I feel at becoming quite organised. I also needed to visit our local tearoom and show community support. Lockdown can be hectic.

3.     3. Pray for a sign that will snap you out of this stage. It’s the only way to move forward, but I do feel embarrassed about this as I wonder if it isn’t the ultimate procrastination tactic. It’s easy to convince myself of “no sign? No work.”

This Procrastination Stage could become a way of starting every writing project. I love the laying about, orqdering books, getting the lounge chair out on the patio. It’s quite a summer holiday. Yet, something did come over me the other day and for some unknown reason I did #3. Silly me! The very next day I saw a notice on the ACW FB page about a first time novel prize. Well that woke me up! Apparently it had been posted before but my head was so far down into #2 (see above) that I missed it. Surely it’s a sign that I’m just about ready to begin the Preparation Stage, but I’ll do my best to linger in #2 until the end of August. Doesn’t seem right to start work before September, though I can’t think why. 

 

Love and blessings to anyone considering the great Procrastination Stage. All tips for loving this stage and not feeling guilty gratefully accepted in the comments below. Kathleen McAnear Smith has written three non-fiction books and is procrastinating about/ for her first novel. She is missing her grandchildren terribly. She loves to ride pillion on her husband’s motorbike.