I have a confession to make: I have been doing some serious procrastinating. As any writer knows, this isn’t a massive revelation. Every day involves at least a little bit of procrastinating… (Or it does in my world!)
I’ve been procrastinating with the next edit of my novel. You may recall I said last week I would be starting the edit on paper this week. Well I’m about to now… probably. Here’s the “before” shot:
Before the red pen is unleashed…
I’ll show you the “after” when it’s done. I think I’ve subconsciously been procrastinating because the next step is to send my WIP off to a professional editor, and the thought of that TERRIFIES me. Still, I know it has to happen, so at some point I’ll man up. In the meantime, though, I’m scared.
Moving swiftly on… Yesterday I spent all day working in the library. At one point, there was a man sitting at one of the tables with a sketchbook, a tiny set of paints and the obligatory jam jar of water to wash his brush. He was very tidily painting something across the library from him. He wasn’t there very long at all.
But remember last week I told you about the man with the block of cheese? Well guess what? Yup, he was back. This time, he had a pint of semi-skimmed milk (still in its plastic bottle, straight from the supermarket) and three electrical appliances, including an electric shaver!
I think he was charging them up using the sockets by the table he was sat at (cheeky?!). He was casually sitting there for most of the afternoon, reading a book and occasionally swigging milk from the bottle. I can’t decide if this would be taking the whole “giving characters quirks” thing a bit too far, though!
You know I’m going to have to go back again next week to see if he’s back… But do all libraries have eccentric characters like this, or is it just the one in Swansea?!
Good luck editing! That man sounds hilarious, you’ll have to put him in a book one day
Thank you
I’m definitely storing this all away for future use!
He’s procrastinating, too. He’s using the library resources (!) as an excuse to avoid getting on with the job of getting a job. My husband recommends the crunchy cheddar, by the way; I have examined the opened slab for clues as to how he eats it; no teeth marks as yet… You strike me as someone who will edit effectively, so don’t worry about the professional view! Why are you reading this? Are you procrastinating again? Sigh…
Ah, so perhaps your husband is going for the more conventional method of eating cheese — cutting slices or chunks off?
Thank you for your kind words about editing. I’m going to do it now, promise!
Wonder if the guy is homeless?
Don’t fear the editor. It’s not that bad. Really!
I think he just goes to the library for the social aspect (and the electricity). The amount of people he saw there that he knew was amazing…
As for the editor, I need to stop looking at it like I’m submitting an assignment to a teacher! :-/
Procrastination-what’s that?! Good luck with your edits Stacey. Your local library sounds much more interesting than mine…
Haha, thanks Anita! Interesting and distracting…
Editing is admitting we don’t have something right. Anyone who embraces that task should have their head examined. Yes eccentric ones are everywhere we just don’t always notice.
You’re spot on, Joe — what you’ve just said makes so much sense. So I guess it’s fine (normal?) not to feel good about editing, but I just need to get on and do it!
I’m nervous too when I send my book away to the NWS for critique and when I get it back I read the report through my fingers (similar to how I watch Casualty or ER when a gory bit is coming up). It’s worth it though and it’s a positive step towards the end result.
I am definitely going to spend more time in the library…
Thanks Elle
We want to improve our writing, otherwise why would we do it? But the anticipation is the worst thing, I think. We always fear the worst and realistically know we’re not going to be spot on, but it still hurts to hear where we could improve.
One of the things I’ve been really glad to learn as a fairly new writer, is that procrastination is part of the job description! I hope those edits are coming on well.
Sometimes I like to pretend procrastination is “thinking time”. No one else knows what’s happening in my head, so why not? Thanks for your comment Rebecca!