Back in Feburary I posted a blog, How NaNoWriMo Changed my Writing Habit and in it I talked about how easy it was for me to keep to the writing schedule during that month. I thought I’d changed my usual habit of procrastination for all time. Not exactly!
Last week in my Friday writing group, I wrote this piece about procrastination in response to one of our prompts:
DRAFT FOUR
Boot up laptop, organize notes, open novel
Get coffee
Make two trips back to kitchen to perfect ratio of coffee to soy creamer
Sit at laptop. Find page 246
Old girl’s toenails click on hardwood, white muzzle appears at office door
Fill her food dish, add one tab Benedryl , one-half tab arthritis med, one-half tab pain med
Sit at laptop
Coffee is cold. Trip to kitchen to warm in microwave
Old Girl has spit out her meds
Wrap a chunk of last night’s chicken breast around pills and pop in her mouth
Sit at laptop
Read first sentence of Chapter Twenty. Too many prepositions. Reword it
Read again. Too choppy. Add prepositions, but not as many
Check emails. Friends tell about new haircut, how the kids are doing, how busy they are
Respond to emails. Tell friends about weekend plans and new gray sofa
Look at clock. Close gmail
Read first page of Chapter Twenty. Decide that it should be part of Chapter Nineteen so cut and paste
Check Facebook. Niece posted adorable photos of new twins. Six political commentaries, a hs classmate so proud in his camo outfit, shot an Elk and posted photo of its severed head. Delete photo
Check time. Close Facebook and resume editing novel
Old Girl whines for a walk
Close laptop, find shoes, jacket, key
Slow circuit around block takes longer every day
Open laptop
Chapter Nineteen no longer ends on a cliffhanger. Delete last change and add back to beginning of Chapter Twenty
Stomach growls
Read paper with breakfast
Check time. Open laptop
Redundant third paragraph on page 292. Reword
Phone rings. He asks, How’s the writing going?
She says, Worked all morning. Need a break!
NaNoWriMo starts in two days and I’m gearing up to write again. I’m hoping for a repeat of my good record last time. If you are doing NaNo this year I’d love to hear how it’s going for you. I plan to blog about the process as the month, and my writing progresses!
Linda Townsdin 
Great article, and so true! It’s amazing how many things suddenly have to be done at the exact moment that I sit down to write.
That’s why I like the NaNo month. It reminds me that I can focus if I really want to.
I’m so glad to see this piece that I got to hear written! It’s terrific–perfectly captures the writing process… all parts of it! Here’s to another successful NaNoWriMo for you!
Thanks, Jan! I’m looking forward to working on some of the scenes in our group. See you Friday!
Linda, your words about NaNoWriMo are encouraging. This is going to be my first year.
Hi Janet, I loved it last year. My favorite part was the freedom of not having time to go back over every word and just letting go and writing. Good luck and have fun!
Brilliant; thanks for sharing. And good luck with NaNoWriMo — I look forward to reading your blog posts about the process!