My husband has dubbed me a chief procrastinator. What he doesn’t know is that sometimes I only seem to be putting off something. Sometimes I’m working out some aspect of the job before I start it. Sometimes I dread it so much, I need to sidle into it so I’ve begun before I realize I’m doing it.
And yes, sometimes, I’m just putting it off. For weeks, I’ve been saying I need to get down to serious work on my next novel, and yet here I am saying it again. I do have legitimate Real Life distractions. And I’m still working out some plot points in the back of my mind, so maybe not all is lost. Still, in part, I’m just wasting time. I find myself making lists. Most of these are to-do lists, which I know, even as I make some of them, I may never look at again.
But I’m capable of making even more useless lists. Consider the following one. I use a stats program that records the location of visitors to this blog. A ridiculous number of countries worldwide have shown up there. Closer to home, I’ve had visitors from every one of The United States of America. By cross-matching by time, I can track where those who leave comments live. Naturally, the info led to a list showing which state has interacted most with me.
- California (36 distinct visitors left comments)
- Illinois and Texas (tied at 13)
- Oregon (12)
- Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania (tied at 11)
Other “research” shows I’ve had visitors from the following states, but none of them left a comment: Alabama, District of Columbia, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont. Are readers from those states just less chatty?
“What about other English speaking countries?” I ask myself. Turns out, visitors from all over Canada have left comments—except those who came from Newfoundland and Saskatchewan. From the UK, I’ve exchanged comments with visitors from numerous cities in England, a couple in Wales, but not a one in Ireland or Scotland.
Does any of this knowledge matter a whit? Of course, not! Will I tailor my posts to appeal more to those in Montana, Iowa, Newfoundland, or Saskatchewan? Nope. I’m just wasting time.
Now, about those games on Facebook …
Your turn: Do you ever waste writing time? If so, how?
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Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I’ve also wasted time studying stats…Probably my biggest time waster. I haven’t even looked at my stats for TWO DAYS now! It’s a record. Of course, I haven’t posted anything lately, and I don’t have much mail regarding my blog, so the real reason I haven’t checked is because it would be too depressing…:(
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That’s the other side of the coin, isn’t it? Right now, I’m trying to break my habit of constantly checking my book sales. Seeing no blog visitors or no sales can really dampen your spirits.
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What don’t I do to procrastinate writing? To write I want LOADS of uninterrupted time before I begin. And if that’s not written in stone I clean parts of the house, re-organize my office, make jewelry, bake something I don’t need to eat, weed the yard, read other peoples books, and theres that rabbit hole we call the web. Yeh, that’s a time killer. 🙂
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That’s what I want too, Jessica, but my current circumstances don’t allow that any longer. It’s been an adjustment, but I think I’m getting there. Yes, I fall down that rabbit hole wayyyyy too often. 🙂
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