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9:22 a.m.
2003-11-03
Writing and Procrastination
It seems like everyone and their brother is talking about NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month). Well, maybe not everyone and their brother...more like everyone and their sister. But either way, it's the word on everyone's lips these days, kinda like how "Roxie" was a few months ago.
I'm not participating this year. My reason? Same one as last year--it's in November, and November is a hell of a month for me. That'll be my excuse next year, and the year after that, and any year I'm at DePaul, basically. November equals papers and projects and finals and other nonsense, and this year, it also equals moving stuff (still working on that at home), and modding, and tutoring, and secretarying, and other random stuff. It's bloody busy as hell. So no writing of a novel in a month for me.
I just wish that I would at least give it a try. You know, give myself a goal of a number of words a day/week/whatever to write, and just see if I could possibly accomplish it. Instead, I just brush it aside, say there's already too much to do, and don't bother, even though I really want to. It's kind of frustrating, 'cause it makes me wonder about any other goal I might have to accomplish. Will I just brush it aside, saying I'll do it another time, like I'm doing now? Will I ever take part in NaNoWriMo, or even in writing a novel or a book at all? It gets kind of depressing.
It also reminds me that I used to have drive, that I used to be disciplined when it came to stuff like that. I've always been a procrastinator, sure, but it was never really a way of life. Now, it is, and I don't know if I like it. I know I'm going to have to buckle down and do well, so that I don't fuck up grad school, and so that I can be one of those teachers students say, "Yeah, take her class, she's awesome, even if her subject matter is boring (I'm thinking of teaching Restoration/18th Century literature stuff)." I really want that. I don't want people to be all like, "Duder, don't take her class, she sucks ass and is a procrastinator."
...then again, if they used that terminology, I'd be really disturbed. ><
Work now.
Quote for the Day: "The turtle makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." --James Bryant Conant