Yes, well, Procrastination, I think, must be my middle name. That’s me above, procrastinating. A month back, I was anguishing over how to progress with my new novel, having written several pages and coming to a halt. So, I began collecting more background material, and that helped to a point. I wrote approximately one more page. I had begun writing in 1st person perspective, and was fairly happy with that choice.Then I began wondering whether 1st person would give me the depth of insight I wanted from other characters. So, I changed what I’d written to 3rd person, and stopped. Why? Because I decided to write an article about libraries back in the day. That’s awaiting an edit. Following that, I re-edited a collection of twenty short stories I’d written over the years. My reasoning was, why start a new story when I already had a novel-length book waiting in the wings? Good. Finally I was focussed on one thing!

And then…my husband Kerry asked me about a national short story competition, when the closing date was, and was I intending to place an entry? I gave a weak response, saying that I’d look into it. The thing was, I knew about this competition, when it closed, and even the story I might enter. Except, I needed an ending for this particular story. I had struggled with this issue for approximately two years, taken the story to critique groups, friends and sundry others, and finally thrown it in the ‘Too Hard Basket’. So, that meant I actually had four discrete pieces of writing – unfinished. But, Kerry had given me the ‘kick up the butt’ incentive I needed to make at least one decision. And before the day was out, I had scrawled notes for the ending of that short story. In addition, I sent off three stories from the collection to my editor friend for proof-reading. Sending them in bundles suited us both; we were now faced with a manageable amount of work; the molehill, rather than the mountain. Phew, I thought. Two projects almost ticked off.

I am pleased to say that the end of the story for the competition is in sight, and will be finished this week, giving me several days to ensure the end works with the whole. It’s looking that way. I must thank Kerry once again, for helping with a deadline for the unfinished story. Now, didn’t I write a blog about deadlines some months back? That’s the thing about us Procrastinators, we just keep on procrastinating. Think we’ve licked it, and it just keeps on happening again. Oh well…