tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post8579569790668642095..comments2024-03-29T03:30:18.368-06:00Comments on Blood-Red Pencil: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution for ProcrastinationDanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-58724681138380571622019-03-18T08:25:11.162-06:002019-03-18T08:25:11.162-06:00For me, mornings work for email, social media, err...For me, mornings work for email, social media, errands away from the house, and walking the dog. Anything to do with the wip is best left until lunchtime or later.Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-86612779719271670782019-03-18T08:24:02.741-06:002019-03-18T08:24:02.741-06:00I agree 100%, Linda. During my working years, rout...I agree 100%, Linda. During my working years, routine and productivity was more important than creativity. Makes a difference.Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-91790617650213110712019-03-18T08:22:21.161-06:002019-03-18T08:22:21.161-06:00Hi Heidi! I'm beginning to think it's a un...Hi Heidi! I'm beginning to think it's a universal trait that writers need to deal with...which is what Pressfield calls Resistance.Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-55050395462785015892019-03-15T16:20:59.756-06:002019-03-15T16:20:59.756-06:00I-yi-yi! Now that was a nightmare in the making! S...I-yi-yi! Now that was a nightmare in the making! Soooo glad you had your flashdrive and back up your critical files regularly. And I agree: One size does NOT fit all. I am hopeless in the morning for writing, so unless it's something very simple (I can do a short blog post, for instance), I save it for later in the day.Ann Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05422047704540904303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-22363967624283622412019-03-15T08:34:33.966-06:002019-03-15T08:34:33.966-06:00One size definitely does not fit all--with one exc...One size definitely does not fit all--with one exception: backing up our work. I've lost way too much over the years because I think creatively rather than practically. Creativity may be a gift, but it has a sizable downside. I've finally learned to rein it in a bit, but I still forget sometimes. Now about having a rigid writing schedule: I don't think so. It sounds like a great idea, but it never has worked for me. To write every day works as long as my schedule allows that. To work at the same time every day doesn't work because neither life nor the flow of creative juices are that predictable. One final thought: creativity should never be forced because quality suffers when it is, at least for me. Great post, Pat.Linda Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16056682992943171805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-42882312645137855032019-03-15T08:15:20.114-06:002019-03-15T08:15:20.114-06:00I, too, like "simmer." My word of choice...I, too, like "simmer." My word of choice has always been "incubate." It's similarly positive.Linda Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16056682992943171805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-29371802129834571972019-03-14T16:37:21.238-06:002019-03-14T16:37:21.238-06:00Yikes! Scary to think you lost your WIP!! I read t...Yikes! Scary to think you lost your WIP!! I read this book too, very interesting and telling. Me too. I call myself the Queen of Procrastinators! Sigh.Heidiwriterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02593338979995203659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-41543991632666271142019-03-14T15:50:24.482-06:002019-03-14T15:50:24.482-06:00I agree, Maryann, and I truly am a world class pro...I agree, Maryann, and I truly am a world class procrastinator. Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-23448502053376090232019-03-14T15:22:27.122-06:002019-03-14T15:22:27.122-06:00Terrific post, Pat. Showing up to write, or any ot...Terrific post, Pat. Showing up to write, or any other creative endeavor, is NOT the same as showing up to work at any other job. We can't force creativity. While I do agree that we can train ourselves and our brains to respond to the create prompt at certain times of certain days, it doesn't always happen. We can discipline ourselves to try to set a pattern, but when the pattern isn't working one day, procrastinate. LOLMaryannwriteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09479027709233807149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-5294108144999010792019-03-14T14:27:40.910-06:002019-03-14T14:27:40.910-06:00Hi LD! It sure saved me this time. I would never h...Hi LD! It sure saved me this time. I would never have started that same book over again, so more than a year of work would have been lost. Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-76237186183288393692019-03-14T13:34:47.894-06:002019-03-14T13:34:47.894-06:00I worked for a number of years as an IT Director, ...I worked for a number of years as an IT Director, which meant I got a lot of panic calls from computer users who had just deleted or copied over a critical file. The auto-backup safeguards I'd built into the network saved most of them but there were some I just couldn't recover. Stay faithful to your "Every time. Without fail." back up routine. It's a lifesaver. LD Mastersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01202135756299574972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-56833283317072731932019-03-14T09:30:40.047-06:002019-03-14T09:30:40.047-06:00Polly, there are a billion and one ways we can mes...Polly, there are a billion and one ways we can mess up. I find that any little distraction (like passing scenery on a car trip) would be enough for me to make a horrible mistake. I should probably do all my writing at the library (but not on chilren's story time day). Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-32439001619689940692019-03-14T08:49:02.574-06:002019-03-14T08:49:02.574-06:00I fully understand. Something similar happened to ...I fully understand. Something similar happened to me yesterday. My critique partner sent me the first 35 pages of her manuscript to get my opinion because an agent is interested. I downloaded it, worked on it Tuesday, saved it, and the next morning, my husband had a doctor's appt. I thought I could work on the pages in the car for the 3 hour round trip. Got a lot done on the way, saved it, then on the way home, I couldn't find the file. Turns out I downloaded it but didn't save the file to a document in Word. It wasn't there. None of it. Gone. And because I wasn't online, I couldn't seem to get it out of my temp file. I spent the day in a panic. Finally, I contacted Carbonite. I saw they had run a save the night before. It took them a while, but they at least got out the first part of what I'd done. What I did, or didn't do, was such an amateur mistake, I thought I'd better get my brain examined. As far as my procrastination--it's much like yours. I can't fight it anymore.Polly Iyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05729656119287702191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-60026960830833778172019-03-14T08:37:38.383-06:002019-03-14T08:37:38.383-06:00It's hard to lose a bunch of stuff whether a p...It's hard to lose a bunch of stuff whether a personal goof or a computer glitch. My husband was my hero after I had a computer crash a few years ago. He was able to pull the hard drive and recover everything for me. The really important stuff was properly backed up anyway, but a few things like the photo file would have been lost forever.Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-47205059617880010592019-03-14T08:32:42.030-06:002019-03-14T08:32:42.030-06:00I felt a cold chill run down my back while reading...I felt a cold chill run down my back while reading of your experience, Elle. It feels so bad to lose something important we've spent a lot of time creating. I'm be adding both of the books you recommended to my "Must Read" list. I'd like the idea of letting creativity simmer (sounds so much more artistic than procrastination).Patricia Stolteyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192369425956406122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-446240861178369432019-03-14T06:03:39.437-06:002019-03-14T06:03:39.437-06:00Oh my. How heart stopping. I think perhaps all of ...Oh my. How heart stopping. I think perhaps all of us can remember doing this. I did, and those nice IT people could not retrieve my work. So very glad you could. Liz V.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-32250579902811733802019-03-14T02:27:23.881-06:002019-03-14T02:27:23.881-06:00Oh, I know that horror well, Pat. So relieved to h...Oh, I know that horror well, Pat. So relieved to hear you were backing up! I did something similar more than twenty years ago, back when we didn't think to do back-ups :'( I was showing a friend the "choose your own adventure" game I'd written in the coding program GW Basic; unfortunately I started to show her how the code worked and opened a new screen on top of the game I'd spent so much time on. The program prompted me to save the document and I did, mid-conversation, only to find that I had saved a few lines of demo code over my only copy of my game. I have never not made a back-up of anything I work on since. <br /><br />You might be interested in the opposite perspective to Mr Pressfield: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g" rel="nofollow">Monty Python's John Cleese on Creativity in Management</a> and a book by Frank Partnoy called <a href="http://frankpartnoy.com/wait/" rel="nofollow"><i>Wait: The Art and Science of Delay</i></a>. Both advocate allowing creativity to simmer for as long as possible to get past the "good enough" option and dig out the unexpected twist.Elle Carter Nealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02266309723919011181noreply@blogger.com