Disclaimer

Warning - Some posts may cause choking, spitting of beverage and /or a severe giggle fit. This advice brought to you by regular reader Louisa.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Pontificating, Procrastinating and Prevaricating.


Yup, the three big P's. Not to be confused with the singular big 'P', which could mean any number of things (I'll leave it to your imagination). Essentially they all mean the same thing, but because they all start with 'p', and they're all slightly funny sounding, I decided to use them all in my title.

Anywho, what is it this time that I am pontificating/procrastinating/prevaricating over? Well, aside from the usual Putting Things Off (this beginning with 'p' seems to be a pattern of mine) mindset that I have, I typically decided that I should add to my list of Projects to Dither Over (another 'p' right there) and seriously consider doing this year's NaNoWriMo.

*awaits tumbleweed to pass*

I know, I'm crazy. I mean, I haven't even managed to keep up with my blog this year, never mind actually write anything. My brain has been mostly disassociated with anything to do with writing for the majority of 2010. Every once in a while I've attempted a blog post, and I wrote a short story back in... March I think.... but other than a haphazard editing schedule, I've done nothing. It's pretty easy to fool yourself into thinking that it doesn't matter and that tomorrow will be The Day to start writing again, but the problem with tomorrows is that there are far too many of them.

So, with only three months left of 2010, and with one of them being the infamous Novel Writing November, I figured now was as good a time as any to stop putting things off tomorrow and start doing things today.

Okay, so November isn't technically today, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, going from writing nothing to 1700 words a day is bit of a big step - too big a step to start off with, I'm thinking. Last year I had been blogging for a month when I decided to take a stab at the NaNo thing, and I figured this year I should probably do the same thing if I was to seriously consider attempting writing my second novel. That being the case, and with October being the lesser known month of NaBloWriMo (that would be National Blog Writing Month for those of you uninitiated to those funny WriMo words), I am crossing my fingers and hoping to post a blog for every day of October. If, by some miracle, I manage to complete this challenge, then not only do I get to complete my first WriMo this year (*is trying to forget the failure of June's WriMo*), but I also get in good, solid practice of writing every day in preparation for the biggie WriMo in November.

My biggest problem is obviously procrastination - I wouldn't have named this blog the way I did if it didn't make sense, after all - and one of the biggest props that a procrastinator has is the plethora of excuses they can come up with when they are putting things off. My biggest excuse is lack of inspiration, and to be fair, it's an excuse that is actually true. Most days I seriously don't know what the heck I will write about, which is why most days I don't write, it's as simple as that.

So I need 31 topics to blog about. Crikey. That's where you guys come in. Take pity on a poor prevaricator and give her some serious ammunition against the I Don't Know What To Write About Monster that is lurking next to her laptop and just waiting to pounce on her. He's not really very scary to look at, what with his purple fuzzy face and  loopy grin, but he's definitely a big distraction, and has been known to cause weeks of Non-Writingness.

I will put myself at the mercy of six (un)lucky people, each one having the dubious honour of being able to control what I blog about for five consecutive days. Now, if you do the maths, that works out at only covering 30 days, not 31, but I figure I should leave the final day of October for recapping on what will hopefully have been a crazy, but fun-filled blog writing month. (Plus I'll need to have a last-minute panic attack on record if I decide to go ahead with NaNoWroMo *shifty*).

So there we have it. Are there half a dozen people out there ready to thrust strange and random topics at a Procrastinating Princess? There's no fixed way of doing this - you can post five random subjects in the comments below this post, you can give me your chosen subjects via email (tundielatgooglemaildotcom) at the start of your five day slot, or you can give them to me at the last minute, the night before I'm due to post. I'm not fussy (just slightly crazy).

What say you?

6 comments:

  1. I am more than willing to come up with five topics. But you know me- the topics I come up with will not exactly be digression material :-(

    And you can blog about the Colours feature every Wednesday, can't you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, but Natasha, a true Digressionista can digress about *anything*, didn't you know that? *winks*

    And yes, I can promote the Colours feature every week, but I'd prefer not to overly cheat and use it as a topic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that at least one day you should open a dictionary to a random page, stab a finger at it with your eyes closed, and blog about whatever word you land on. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah, that is quite the dilemma. That is why I picked one subject with many different parts before making any decisions and then cheated by creating the first week of posts already.

    I could maybe help you come up with topics, let me see what I can think of off the top of my head.

    1)lost loves

    2)the people you see everyday on the street(the ones you don't know)

    3)your favorite childhood hideout/ or fort/ getaway space

    4)your thoughts on a topic that you are not qualified/have no business discussing (oh I don't know nuclear physics, genomics?)

    5)Your thoughts on pickles

    ReplyDelete
  5. Say, but... if I give YOU topics, then I won't have them anymore... *shifty*

    1) Do some romantic 'ships' across books... you know... introduce Mr. D'Arcy to Scarlett O'Hara or something...

    2) Take us to some of Cardiff (or Wales) entertainment spots and show us around

    3) Put your writing and editing plans OUT THERE (the accountability helps me--I may go slower, but if I've put it out into the either, I try to follow through)

    4) A LIST of the writing distractions

    5) A good old fashioned rant: you decide about what.

    For some reason I want a pickle now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leanne, that's definitely something I can use one of these days, although why I didn't think of it myself is beyond me.*snort*

    Maria - GREAT suggestions! A nice mix of the serious and the bizarre. Thankies!

    Tami -Ooh, some more great suggestions - though I should have known you'd get a Pestering About Editing in there somewhere. *blushes* Good stuff, I always need a pester now and again... and I'll look forward to the rant, too.

    Yay, I have subjects to ramble to! Keep 'em coming - I'll share again on my facebook page too. :)

    ReplyDelete