Most of my day was spent thinking about the things I should be doing. When I wasn’t procrastinating I engaged in displacement activity or eating. Julia suggested that I could combine two of my talents and write a book about procrastination. Or eating. And suggested, a trifle unkindly, that if I could combine eating and procrastinating it might be better for my waistline.
I told her I would consider the book, and that I would spend the rest of the day in research.
After lunch she went to have her hair done and when she returned, bearing Bakewell tarts, I forgot to tell her how nice her hair looked. In my defence I would say that two hours on eBay followed by tea and Bakewell tarts had dulled my normally tip-top husbandly instincts.
After that I did some more research. When you are researching procrastination, as I pointed out when asked if I had gone to sleep, it is often difficult to draw a line between research and torpor. Generally, if I have a notebook out, it is research.
Last night, when preparing myself for a serious assault on the world of poetry magazines, I found I had submitted the same poem to two different editors. It is the second time I have done this, despite my best efforts at organising myself. Fortunately they both rejected it, so it wasn’t a problem. I really must do better.
As soon as I finish here I am going to start recycling the rejected submissions from the last month. They have many good points, which I will try to accentuate, whilst removing the bad bits. This is the easy bit, after that I actually have to start working.
I like a bit of solid research. I have been looking into failure all my life.
The trouble is that once you seem to get some solid research done they tell you haven’t failed (just been using the wrong measurement). Always some Pollyanna to move the goalposts!
You are right.
🙂
Recycling the rejected submissions from the last month is a good start. You are well on your way to more acceptances!
Once I can get things moving again it all becomes easier, both to write and to believe in my work. 🙂
Maybe Julia was helping your procrastinating research by bringing home the tarts!
Did you explain to Julia the whole I didn’t mention your lovely hair because there were tarts in the vicinity?
Frankly, I’m not sure that would have helped. 🙂
😉
“As soon as I finish her” – please don’t
That was a tricky typo – could have looked really bad if it had been brought up in court by the prosecution. 🙂