However, with artists, procrastination can be a deadly virus that takes root in one work of yours and spreads out to everything else. This is true for all types of artists, but especially for writers. The amount of tweets I see poking fun about how "writers can't do anything without their coffee" (not true - I don't drink coffee) and "writers put off the editing phase as long as they can" (true - and it hurts to acknowledge) is humongous. This is because it's relatable, and there's something to be said about relatable things. They tend to be true.
So why is it a deadly virus? Think about it. You think of something new, something you're super hyped to have ever conceived. You start making that something, however it is that you make it (I outline my stories, some writers don't, like the fantastic Stephen King). You follow through with every twist and turn of the paintbrush, every little trim and cut of the scenes you filmed, all the breathtaking monologues and plot twists of your manuscript.
Then you hit a rough spot.
It starts to dawn on you how hard it's gonna be to fix the problem, you realize that the color you chose is off, the scene you filmed is missing that [insert important plot detail] you needed to establish, and that no, your beta readers weren't wrong, your character was a massive bitch from the start.
When you step back and see some of these problems, whatever they may be, it can be hard to continue. You may keep telling yourself that it's not worth it to try, or that you don't have time.
Don't fall into these traps.
If the poison can infect one work, it can easily spread. You start something new, and fall into another trap. Then something else, and another, and another - and the cycle repeats itself. We've all been there, we all understand. To this day I still tell myself these things, and procrastinate... but an artist's job is to create art. If we ever want that art to see the light of day, it needs to be finished.
So I've devised a trick that keeps me accountable for everything I want to get done in a day. It's simple, and probably a no-brainer when it really comes down to it, but if you actually do it, then you may see how much it helps. I keep a list, with check-off boxes. Every day, I'll write everything in this list that I want to get done, be it responsibilities, and luxuries alike. The system is simple - when you finish something, just check it off the list.
Done.
This gives you a visual representation of the projects and responsibilities you needed to get done in the day, certain goals that you need to meet that wouldn't have been met otherwise. To some, that may sound intimidating because you'll now have a whole page of stuff to look at and point to when you say, "but I really don't have time! Just look at all the stuff I need to do!"
I urge you to stop doing that, and just do what's on the list. When I was writing my first book, I didn't think I'd be able to make it in time for the deadline (I believe I had three months, it was my eighth grade project). But, I had a number of words I needed to hit every day, and I wouldn't let myself do anything else until I hit it. Long story short, I made it, and finished my book. Then, a few years later, I started a real manuscript in May of 2016, and finished it in February of 2017. Now, because I can look back at how much I've done and how far I've come, digging through my time to make new stuff doesn't seem like so much of a challenge. I started another manuscript this month (Jan 8th, 2018) - at the time of this blog post, it's the 24th, and I already have 22,000 words (nearly 70 pages) done! Whenever I minimize the document and look at just how much there is, I say to myself, "If I've already done this much, I can finish it as well."
The same theory applies to your list - just get one thing done, and check off the box. Notice how there's one less box? Well, get another thing done, and check off that box. Now there's two less boxes! Magic, right? In my opinion, the real magic here is mixing your personal goals with your responsibilities. In my lists, I have things like "Finish Math Homework" and "Read one chapter of [insert book here]" together. This way, I can hop around what I want to do and what I need to do while still getting both of them done. I've found that having your artistic objectives in the list works as well!
This type of structure may not work for everyone, but I figured I'd share a little bit of my personal organization with my blog. That's what it's for, right?
Until next time, keep watching, keep writing, and most importantly, keep reading.
