The P Word

And by that I mean procrastination. And by that I mean do we writers purposely sabotage ourselves to do anything other than writing? And by that I mean do we keep creating, recreating, rehashing plot outlines, character outlines just so we don’t actually have to do the deed. And by that I mean writing.

I was having a chat with my partner the other night (let’s call him Hulk). I was telling Hulk about the new developments in my story. Basically, a complete rehash of my original idea. Which before that was another rehash. He said to me, ‘Are you actually going to start writing your book now?’. To which I replied, ‘Get stuffed, you don’t know me!’

After my 2 second Springer moment, I thought about what he said. Was I deliberately procrastinating?  Hiding behind new characters and reworked plotlines? Creating new scenarios in my head so that my main goal – the one thing left to do – would be put on the back burner for, say, another month yet again? In my defence, I did need to change the way I was writing my book. So now that I have finally developed characters I like and a story I truly believe in, isn’t it time to start punching out the words………or is it? What about all the research I need to do? The story is set on the other side of the world so I have to research my proverbial off. But that all forms part of the writing umbrella, does it not?

Is writing limited to just that? Just writing? Just the words we type out in sequence? Does writing not encompass the characters, the immense research that some authors have dedicated many years to?

I printed out some summary sheets last night which I downloaded from the fab Creative Writing Now website. I used their Novel Outline Summary, Character Outline and Scene Outline sheets. I physically wrote on them, with blue pen and everything. Technically, that’s writing isn’t it? Even though I wasnt telling a story….well, hang on. In a way, I was. I was outlining a character. Telling THEIR story. Outlining it. I was summarising my novel. Telling the story.

So to heck with this procrastination word. Procrastination? Pah! No such thing. Unless you are purposely avoiding that impending deadline…..