Annals of Procrastination
When I got out of school, my ambition was to write. And I started a novel, as yet unfinished.
I worked on the book for a number of years, but increasingly my “day job” – that is to say, my career – got in the way. But that’s not really a fair way to put it: it’s fairer to say that my career was an escape, a kind of grand procrastination scheme.
Then, as my career advanced, my writer’s itch returned. I started blogging, in part to scratch that itch, but also as a way of procrastinating from the responsibilities of my career.
Now, lately, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to blog. Sometimes I really want to write about A, and wind up blogging about B as a way of procrastinating from writing about what I want to write about. Sometimes I just kill time.
And when I take the next step, and find ways of procrastinating from killing time to avoid blogging to escape my job to forget my novelistic ambitions . . .
(But perhaps I’ve just done it?)
Isn’t there some Canadian theater production that you can write about?
— cw · Jun 11, 02:43 PM · #
Noah, I’ve always thought of you, from my reader’s and co-blogger’s distance, as suspiciously sane. This post is reassuring.
— Matt Feeney · Jun 11, 03:08 PM · #
Oh, I feel good reading this – this is the story of my life too! (providing, of course, for the difference between our talents).
— scritic · Jun 11, 03:13 PM · #
Maybe you could work on the novel to avoid blogging. That would maintain a grand circle of procrastination without spreading yourself too thin.
I do know what you mean about writing about B to avoid writing about A. I have some topics that I think I undercover because I want to cover them in depth rather than with quick posts.
— Greg Sanders · Jun 11, 03:16 PM · #
Noah,
Work on the novel as a way to postpone another meta-post about blogging about subject B, which is how you postpone writing about subject A, which is how you postpone working on the day job, which is what’s keeping you from… the novel. Pull the wool over your own eyes, throw yourself at the ground and miss, etc.
— Matt Frost · Jun 11, 03:17 PM · #
Good timing, Greg.
— Matt Frost · Jun 11, 03:18 PM · #
cw: Your wish is my command. Hit the refresh button on the home screen.
— Noah Millman · Jun 11, 03:28 PM · #
Having repeatedly transformed what probably should have been left as avocational or recreational pursuits into professional obligations, I’ve procrastinated plenty be pondering the the role of work, leisure, and service in a balanced life. Right now I’m avoiding cutting my next film (a hobby ruined) and studying for my Coast Guard exam (a hobby about to be ruined) by blog commenting (which some days seems like work, and other days like the most delightful form of play.)
How lucky I am to be so tormented. It’s almost as good as having a lawn I’m obliged to mow!
— Tony Comstock · Jun 11, 04:17 PM · #
And how come the search function on this blog shows no returns for “stotting”?
— Tony Comstock · Jun 11, 04:20 PM · #
You mean, by reading the comments? Yes, you’ve just done it.
— sidereal · Jun 11, 04:21 PM · #
Commenting at this blog is my primary outlet of procrastination, and possibly the least rewarding. Gotta love it.
And Tony, that is troubling indeed. I had to use google to find it. It was used by some smartass who calls himself JA.
— Sargent · Jun 11, 04:38 PM · #
Short for “Jack Ass” I suppose.
— Tony Comstock · Jun 11, 04:46 PM · #
Perhaps you should blog your novel whilst at work.
— Geoff · Jun 11, 08:21 PM · #