So I decided to get formal for this title. Because...why not? It's finals season so I've been studying the many forms in which I and my fellow students choose to procrastinate. I have to say, we're pretty good at it. This year though, I'm also struggling with another type of procrastination: finishing a second draft.
It's been a little over two years since I finished my first draft of Guardians. I let it sit, I edited, then I changed half the plot and started writing again. It's been a fun experience but I'm experiencing burnout. I want to write something new, to sink my teeth (or pen) into new characters and a new plot. But in some ways, isn't writing something new a way to procrastinate from finishing the second draft?
In school there are deadlines and I meet them. Professional authors have to meet their deadlines too. But as an aspiring author I don't have to meet formal deadline for my creative writing. There's something nice about knowing that I can take my time. But this can also be a roadblock because I have to muster up the motivation to write even if things feel slow. Something new is appealing because I can't be bored yet.
The proverbial "they" say that true writers write every day. What I wish they had told me was if I should be working on a project until it's done or if I can work on whatever I want during my daily writing time.
Maybe I shouldn't turn to a general they, but to one of my favorite authors, who also happens to have a host of accolades. Neil Gaiman once said, "This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy and that hard." I can physically write words with a pen, or type if that's what the occasion calls for. But writing each word until it's perfect? That's harder. But if I ever want to finish what I hope will be my first novel I have to just sit down and write until it's done.
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