I’m a very blessed person. I got to quit my “day job” writing for a newspaper in 2004. Now I can focus on writing my own “stuff.” After seven years of writing 90% assigned work and only about 10% projects of my own initiative, it feels good to be able to pick and choose what I will concentrate on. Of course, I still get assignments from editors. But I seek out certain publications and, even though the topic may be assigned, how I handle it, what I write, is my own choice. Very lucky, aren’t I?
Still, it can be hard to get going. Sitting down, facing a blank page or blank computer screen, can bring on a case of “don’t the dishes need to be done?” Knowing that what I earn is dependant on what I write, makes things worse. There is more pressure to “perform” than there ever was. Thus more of a chance for writer's block or a case of 'the willies.'
God has healed me of so much. I have more self-confidence and trust in God. I have permission (from myself especially). These days, my difficulties getting started stem from what I call lack of focus or vision. It's the top reason I procrastinate these days.
Lack of focus or vision may actually be a very good reason to procrastinate, especially when being creative. If I don’t know what I'm doing, how can I start? No writer just sits down at a computer and starts writing. An artist doesn’t start slapping paint on canvas with no forethought at all of what he wants to paint. A composer doesn’t sit down and compose a symphony off the top of her head. Oh, there are times when an inspiration hits. A scrap of music, a visual idea, a thought presents itself and we get it down on paper quickly before it is lost. But that bit of inspiration is only the beginning. It may be the theme of a concerto, one song of an opera, the middle paragraph of a 1,000-word article.
All creative works begin with “sitting with” a potential project. The scrap of music one heard in a dream, the idea for a song or poem or choreography is just the beginning. The actual work to produce a finished piece of creativity starts when we sit with an idea and let it speak to us. We brainstorm , we doodle, we wool-gather, we dream. And, yes, we brood. Brooding is good. It means we take time to allow the creative imagination to do its work. Action comes later.
So, if you procrastinate or feel “stage fright” over your creative impulses and never actually finish a project, perhaps you need to do more dreaming about it. Strange as that may seem in our productivity-centered world. The urge to sit down and produce is false and should never be listened to. If you don’t know where to start, start by sitting with your idea, listening to it, getting to know it. This is not procrastination. It is true creativity. Procrastination is when you know what you could do with it, but you don’t keep going.
“Birthing” an idea is a time-honored thing that artists do. Ken Atchity, author of A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision through Revision, wrote: “Writers spend far too much time recording when they should be brooding.” This applies to any creative endeavor. Every work of creation, from a craft project to a symphony, needs that “birthing” time to explore it, plan it, sit with it and get to know it.
If you imagine that you have to sit, facing a blank page and blank mind, and sweat blood in order to create something, no wonder you don’t want to start. That sounds so painful. Nothing could be farther from the truth. What you have to do is sit quietly with your idea and allow it to speak. You will be amazed at how productive this supposedly “non-productive” time can be.
Once I spend time with my ideas, explore them in my mind, and talk about them with God (very important!), I know at least the beginning steps, and the project flows much more easily. This takes a lot of the terror out of starting. In fact, by the time I’ve thought enough about it, I’m pretty enthused to get going. And I've done the most important step -- planning.