Author Donna Andrews is on deadline and procrastinating.
I'm only one day behind where I want to be on the book. I'm
chugging along, slowly but steadily. But my writing avoidance
behaviors are in full bloom.
One of the most common writing
avoidance behaviors is nesting. Cleaning, organizing, and tidying.
It's not just me; a year or so ago, a writer friend reported a
bafflingly sudden and uncharacteristic urge to clean her desk. . . her
office . . . perhaps her whole house. Several of us asked if,
perchance, she was on deadline. Of course she was. You may tell
yourself that you can write better in a tidy office; you may claim that
you're thinking about your book while dusting, mopping, scrubbing, and
sorting; you may even be telling the truth. But never try to fool
yourself that these sudden domestic urges aren't writing avoidance.
I know exactly how she feels. Last night I "cleaned up" my iTunes library and playlists and when I looked up again, three hours had passed. I've also been obsessive about trimming our trees. I think it's because I'm nervous about actually starting to write the "standalone" book that I've been noodling with in my mind for months…
I'd start to write it at this very moment but I have to Twitter somebody, make some more connections on LinkedIn, and clean out my office closet first…