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What is this procrastination of which you speak? I really don't understand the concept. In addition to being the least spontaneous person on the planet, I prioritize. Ruthlessly. My "To Do" list is a short list of Everything Which Must Be Done, the non-negotiable stuff: self-care/health, work tasks, (day job and writing), family and personal commitments, finances, anything with a deliverable or deadline. If it's on the list, it gets done, no questions asked. Anything not urgent or important enough to qualify for the "To Do" list gets put on the "Nice To Do" list instead - and it must be said that at Chez Hogan, home of two adults, two cats and no kids, household chores don't hit the "To Do" list until we're approaching grossout stage. Because really now, on my deathbed, will I regret not having spent more time vaccumning, or scrubbing the stovetop until it shi...

By Leah Hultenschmidt, Senior Editor It’s really easy to be hard on ourselves for procrastinating. After all, everyone has a mountain of to-dos every day—especially if you’re juggling a full-time job, kids and a writing career. Seriously, I’m in awe of you. It’s very easy to become overwhelmed and beat ourselves up over not crossing off every item on the list. For my day, it could be contracts, revision letters, back cover copy, cover art feedback, author correspondence, submissions, meeting prep, returning phone calls, or any number of other things —even editing when possible! But it’s important to remember that we need some unstructured time. Just because something isn’t on the to-do list doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Here are five things you might consider procrastinating that can actually help improve productivity: reading blogs – it’s vital keep up on industry news and make connections with other bloggers, reviewers, and authors watching YouT...

Actually, right now, there's one MAJOR, HUGE, GINORMOUS, BIG way that I procrastinate. And I'm blaming science. And my mom. And cute little feathery things. Here ya go. Be warned, though, watching birds do almost nothing can get pretty darn addictive! Streaming .TV shows by Ustream I've seen the mama and the papa take turns sitting on the babies (which would get you in sooo much trouble in my world...). I've seen them take turns bringing home the bacon (well, fish, actually, but I'm betting the babies wouldn't mind some bacon. Kind of stir things up in the taste department.) I've seen one of the parents sleeping (head tucked back under wing) all night and the other, God-knows-where. Seriously - the eagle doesn't come home at night? What's he/she doing? Out visiting eagle strip joints? Going on a girls' night? Hooking up with strange eagles of the night? One wonders. Actually, I wonder. A lot. Too much... This morning I saw both parents feeding th...

by Olivia Cunning I'm not procrastinating... I'm prioritizing. Earlier this week, I meant to look up which day I was supposed to blog on the Casablanca Authors blogspot, but priorities happened and when I got the email notification on Wednesday that my turn to blog was on Friday, my priorities got rearranged a bit. Right now, I need to feed my family. Left overs. I waited too long to cook dinner. I was prioritizing my blog tour posts for the weekend for Rock Hard . I've been working on them since I got home from work at 4 pm. While I was at work, I graded over 250 papers while simultaneously teaching labs. Why did I have 250 papers to grade? They stacked up while I prioritized writing exams for my classes. Why didn't I have those exams written? I prioritized creating powerpoints for my lectures so I could teach my classes. Why weren't those already complete? More prioritizing. I'll be back later. I need to prioritize this food in the microwave. (7 pm on W...

By Danielle Jackson I don’t think I’m alone if I say that once you work in publishing, procrastination goes out the window. There’s literally no time to even think about procrastinating. As many of you know, publishing is a HUGE group effort—from our copy editors to our designers to our web team to our authors, it takes a lot of people to make one book… and Sourcebooks publishes around 300 books a year! Just think about what would happen if ONE person were to push things aside and put even the smallest kink in the process… Luckily, we’re pretty efficient over here at Sourcebooks (and that’s not to say that there haven’t been issues with late books or cover re-designs at the last minute), and even when something does have to be arranged differently, we stay flexible to make the proper changes. However, I do find small ways to procrastinate, in ways that won’t be detrimental to our publishing machine (which is wild and crazy and generally makes no sense): -I won’t answer a...

by Amanda Forester Procrastination. I do believe I must be the president of this fan club. My husband’s favorite saying is “things you leave to the last minute, only take a minute”. Not perhaps the best mantra with regards to quality, but a nice attempt at putting a positive spin on my secret afflictions. I have long been infected with procrastination. There are many things I know I need to do at some point, but I put off doing them until the last possible second. Like the dentist. Or paying taxes. Ok, let’s see a show of hands of people who are just now realizing that the tax deadline is looming close. How did it get to be mid-April so soon? Along with procrastination, I suffer from avoidination. These are things I absolutely avoid doing, with no real intention of ever getting around to doing them. My garage is a good example. We moved to our new house five years ago, and yet there are still boxes in the garage I have yet to unpack. Safe bet I don’t really need whatever is in them. Ev...

Ah, PROCRASTINATION – my old friend. Procrastination and I used to be really tight. (The Jodie ½ of Lydia, that is. I’ve never known Tammy to ever procrastinate.) Sadly, procrastination is an old friend I’ve been too busy for lately. And I kind of miss it. In school, I remember waiting until the last minute to finish a paper or start working on a project that was due the next day. Memories of all-nighters just flashed in my mind. But at the time, there had been too many fun things to do that prevented me from working on whatever I should have been working on. Trips to the mall, gossiping with friends, dances, football games, and my after school job. So whatever I needed to do got pushed and shoved aside time and again until it couldn’t be pushed or shoved any further. Enter the all-nighter. Of course, I could have done those projects with time to spare. *Sigh* I miss those days. Having time, that is, to either goof off or to complete all the work that needs to be completed. ...

By Robin Kaye Procrastination is something we’re all really good at—okay, maybe some are better than others—I have taken procrastination and turned it into a veritable art form. Still, we all do it. Why is that? We seem to have evolved into a society of procrastinators. There must be a reason this hideous trait is passed through our DNA. It must serve some purpose, mustn’t it? You’d think that procrastinators would have gotten so little done in their lifetimes they’d have at least succeeded in not multiplying and would have effectively flushed that nasty little gene out of our genetic makeup. Unfortunately for me, that’s not the case—it seems procrastinators don’t procrastinate enough to become celibate. I should know, I’m currently raising three teen aged procrastinators. I had planned a survey to use for my procrastination blog. It was to prove my hypothesis that procrastination is a genetic trait we all have. Think about it, when was the last time you met someone that said, “Gee, I...

I've been putting off writing this blog. A little birdie (actually an Angry Bird) told me I could do that. He keeps saying, "Why write a blog today that you can write tomorrow?" Well guess what? It's now just after 2:00 AM and here I am writing this blog that I should have already written and scheduled to post at my appropriate time. All this for some silly golden eggs and three stars? Like Tracey and the others, it's not just writing that I find myself procrastinating at. Every task in my life has been bit by the procrastination monster every so now and again. The bill that I kept avoiding to pay, the essay I had to write for my college history class, the incident report for my full time job. I could go on and on. I've often wondered why this habit keeps rearing its ugly head. Do I like setting myself up for failure? Do I thrive on panic as I scramble to finish my taxes? And trust me, that panic isn't good when you find yourself owing Uncle Sam either. M...

I have to say I’m in Carolyn Brown’s corner when it comes to procrastination and my work. Any work, not just writing. Many years ago, I learned putting off an unpleasant task or situation doesn’t make it go away and, most of the time, delaying the inevitable just amplifies the problem. After a few hard smacks, where I caused myself more work and more stress, I vowed to meet my problems head-on, no matter how difficult. That’s not to say I tackle every issue with finesse. Oh, no. I tend to hit a lot of bumps in the road before I figure it out. LOL Housekeeping is a different story. Sometimes it takes the threat of company to make me clean my house. Have you ever noticed how quickly junk mail piles up? Or those annoying shopping receipts? And don’t even get me started on the dust bunnies! Another area of procrastination? Shopping. Clothes and shoes, to be specific. Yeah, I know. I’m a disgrace to my gender. If the outfit isn’t on a manikin, I haven’t a clue. The thought of walking ...