The Writers Guide to Procrastination, Caffeine Consumption and Graceby Amanda Viviers
Guest Blogger: Amanda Viviers
The blank page can be every writer's arch-nemesis, but what if you could take the hand of procrastination and make it your friend?
I sit at the beginning of my writing day and face the difficulty of starting again, retraining the way that I speak to myself about creativity. The wrestle that dialogues between our thoughts and the page are a competition for our productivity and attention.
Procrastination, however, is part of the process. To explore and find the words that have surfaced at the most inopportune times and then to find the courage it takes to commit entirely to these half-formed ideas.
Writing is like a game of tennis that we play with ourselves internally. Each ball served, flying over the fence asking for a reaction or strategy to respond to the moment of clarity.
"Game, set and match."
Each serve is an idea, that needs a forcefield of play and interpretation to find its full capacity. We need the time it takes to allow the idea to find its pace and rhythm. This is where procrastination enters. When we try to control the flight of the idea, it stops mid-serve and falls to the floor. When we allow the swing of its breadth, space and time to arc across the court (our minds), we find the words and strategy that are present in that moment.
This game is the power of procrastination. We are thinking, marinating in the idea that has been tinkering around in the blank canvas of our minds. I find the days that I build procrastination into the process of creativity; it changes my relationship with the idea and its landing place.
How I build procrastination into my writing practice;
Firstly, I reframe the way that I speak to myself about procrastination. Have you ever found shame to be a great motivation for change?
Neither have I.
The way we speak to ourselves about the craft of writing, changes the way that we allow change into our writing practises. If we allow ourselves the space to ideate and playfully entertain the ideas that are rumbling around our minds, the process becomes more intentional than if we speak to ourselves internally with a tone of discouragement and harsh discipline. The way we talk to ourselves about creativity matters. Reframing this part of the creative process helps us to find our voice with freedom and confidence.
Secondly, I set a timer and I allow myself to procrastinate as part of the process. I will put on a load of washing and use the time it takes to finish and write hard while the machine does its work too. Then I will go and hang out that load of washing and come back to my writing again.
Each morning before I start to write, I go around the space that I am writing in and tidy up my house. As I mindlessly walk around and reset the room to its place of purpose, I allow this simple practice to be a place of playfully entertaining of ideas for my morning of writing. A form of procrastination that I have felt to be unproductive, however, is scrolling social media. There is something about this practice that becomes like chewing gum for the writer's mind.
Thirdly, I have learnt to write. I write even when I don't want to. I write on the days that it feels uncomfortable. I allow myself the space to tidy, to procrastinate, to bake sourdough, to crochet (I know, don't judge me!) but when these moments have provided the space to think, I sit and write hard. Caffeine helps and a lot of grace.
Ernest Hemingway said it this way “Write hard and clear about the things that hurt”. The process of procrastination is part of the process, but the daily rhythms you find also unlock the potential found within. No one else can do this work for you. You can read all the books and have long conversations in cafes. You can sign up for the online courses and get a writers coach, but the only person who can do the hard work of writing every single day— is you.
Amanda Vivers can often be found with a pen in her hand, food spilt down her blouse and a fresh story in her heart. She is an Author, Public Speaker and Radio Presenter. Her online course for writers is called WRITE HARD and is ready to activate you in becoming a better writer today.
