Procrastination is not uniquely an artists’ disease, but it does seem to afflict writers, filmmakers and our fellow creatives more – or more prominently – than most.
The ins and outs of procrastination are a blog in themselves (or several, depending how much time of my writing day I’m trying to waste…) so I’ll skip over that just for now.
What all artists need to avoid, however, is the self-inflicted, unavoidable procrastination within every day life that can jump up and bite you on the metaphorical creative behind.
Only today I had to address some post and, in doing so, discovered something which led me on a wild goose chase of an afternoon by way of trying to stop being overcharged for an energy bill (curse you Scottish Power). This detour, and its subsequent fallout, has entirely swamped my afternoon, which was to be dedicated to address some script issues on a new project of mine.
Today’s lesson, then: stay organised. If I’d been organised enough to notice the bill issues before today I’d have dealt with them when I had more time, rather than having to fire-fight solutions on the fly and eat into my writing time. I’d also be a lot less stressed out than I am right now.