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If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know I’ve been battling myself trying to finish up the last book in the Secrets of Hadley Green, The Last Debutante (due Thursday! If not before!). I have discovered that in the last few years, deadlines get harder and harder to meet because I don’t want to. I don’t want to work that hard anymore. I mean, I do it, because my pride in my books still outweighs my tendency toward sloth. But I procrastinate in crazy ways. The last week I procrastinated in these ways:
I ran some errands for my family. It seems that my entire family needs me in the last two weeks of any deadline, and I can’t say no. So I go pick people up and take them to appointments, or I mail things for them. Whatever I can find that takes an hour or two and that I really don’t have time for.
I take on little projects around the house. Like…I decided to inventory my author copies because I couldn’t find one of my books that I needed. I don’t think I have ever “inventoried” my author copies and I quickly discovered it was a job. I don’t think I am going to finish. But I have about 20 copies of Dangerous Gentleman. Boo-yah. 
I turned off the internet, but when I turned it on, I wasted some major time. More than usual. Here are some of the things I looked up on the internet this week: a) Cow paintings. What can I say? I like cows. b) Narcissim. No reason. Just seemed like a good time to educate myself. c) Lighting fixtures for my ongoing renovation.
I researched TV listings for Project Runway. I don’t want to miss that. And while I was at it, I looked up Say Yes to the Dress, The Olympics, and American Gypsies. I don’t remember now when any of them are coming on.
I think I am going to start reporting what stuff I look up on the internet to waste time just to keep me honest. I think I will do that today, because I have a book deadline, and it seems like the thing to do. What good is a deadline if it is easy?
How do you procrastinate? What are three things you looked up on the internet this week? What’s the last unfinished project you started in your house?
66 Comments on “Ways to Make Deadlines Harder”
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How do I procrastinate? A better question would be how do I NOT? Because, when I need to, I’ll do anything, even like, the dishes, and I’m not even kidding. But my favorite way is usually going to my mom’s bed and going all sweet, “Mommy, I need love.” when I need to do a school paper. And then she’ll pet my head for a while and give me kisses and indulge me for a long as I can manage not to be *too* annoying
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 3:35 am.
I don’t think my mom would let me get away with that, B. She would say something like, “don’t you have a paper to write?” She’s no fun in that regard.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:00 am.
My way of procrastinating is to read. I read quite a lot and if I am not reading then I am either watching tv or sleeping. The last several weeks have been a Godsend for me because I have been sick. According to my GP I most likely caught whooping cough from some twit and it is taking ages to get over. Now that uni has started back I probably should do up a program sort of thing for my studies but I just can’t be bothered at the moment so I will read and relax. The last unfinished project that I started would be today’s house cleaning. I guess I can finish it tomorrow.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 4:36 am.
Whooping cough, Kelly? Wow – I didn’t think that was around any more. Poor thing!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:01 am.
Mr Bossman, you want me to redo my business plan with your revised, unachievable goal? I’ll try but I’m pretty sure writing a new vacation policy and submitting my vacation request will have to happen first. Oh, and we need to get the air conditioning fixed first. Ordering lunch, yup, that’s going to happen first too.
I try to stay focused but if I don’t want to do it, it’s getting done at the last possible minute. Thanks for some new “how to” tips.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:46 am.
I highly recommend the cow art. You would be amazed at how much of it is out there.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:02 am.
Wow, you are good!
The Interenet is one of my great procrastinators as well. I’ll look up things I already looked up and check sites I already checked over and over. Facebook is a big time sucker.
As for house projects–I took the pictures off the wall over 10 years ago to paint and they’re still down. I think we painted a few times since, so hey, why put them back up?
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 7:21 am.
Exactly! Who knows when you will have to paint again?
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:02 am.
The internet is my procrastination tool. Oh, and reading. I tend to tell myself that I will read just one chapter before doing said task, but one usually turns into 5, and then by the time I am done my chapters, it’s time to check e-mail, facebook, and the gossip sites. It’s a vicious circle.
I have also started using Pinterest. It’s another big time sucker.
As a selfish fan… don’t procrastinate too much because I can’t wait for this book to come out!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:07 am.
AmyS, I started with Pinterest, but I haven’t been there in a few weeks. Talk about a HUGE time sink. Thanks for reminding me! hahaha
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:04 am.
I have resisted even going there. I know if I go that I am doomed.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:48 am.
How do I procrastinate? Let me count the ways! Lately I have been reading. And reading. And reading. Sometimes I go into my office with full intentions of getting good work done and I sit there and watch the birds, or realize the plants need water, or how blue the sky is.
I have looked up local realtors, possible housing in Savannah, and digital cameras.
I have an unfinished mulching project. For almost a month now the bed of our truck has been full of mulch waiting for me to finish projects I have started. Between me being sick and the weather the mulch still sits there. I know its not an indoor project, but its the biggest one I have put off. Good luck with the book!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:46 am.
Kelly, you and I would get on very well. Now I need to go look at housing in Savannah.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:06 am.
Oh, we are writer sisters for sure! Thanks for the laugh.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:58 am.
If you have any research that needs to be done…
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:06 am.
Julia, sister of my heart, what can I say? It doesn’t sound *to me* like you procrastinate. You were so BUSY
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:05 am.
Very busy! There are all kinds of websites devoted to narcissism! It would take daaaaays to get through them all.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:07 am.
Oops, hit the wrong key . . . hmm, how did that happen? Must investigate . . . which is not the same as procrastinate at all.
Clear?
No unfinished projects, but that’s only if we discount books to be written. And I’m totally discounting that.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:07 am.
Thank you. I needed to hear that.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:07 am.
I looked up books….what else…
I have a big project that i keep saying I am going to get around to one of these days… Clean out the bedroom walk in closet.. But it is just too hot right now to do that… When the weather cools down a bit in the fall… Yes, that is when I will do it…
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:14 am.
I actually did mine so I could have the Container Store elfa closet put in. LOVE IT. That ought to hold me for a few years of closet cleaning.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:07 am.
I procrastinate all the time. I have an unfinished book that will stay unfinished for a while because I HAVE to journal about the day. I have housework that needs to be done and I obviously have to play with my kids. I have to plan the vacation to Disney that we’re taking in 4 years and look at my college career plan again. Yeah, that book is never going to get written.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:24 am.
Liz, if someone wasn’t going to pay me to finish, that would be me. I am highly motivated by money at some point.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:08 am.
I look at cow pictures, too… but in a very different form. I look at them after they’ve been turned into beautiful leather handbags. Ooooooooooh! I could waste hours looking at purses… and I have!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:32 am.
Oh, Susan, that made me laugh! I absolutely LOVE looking at bags. The hub calls me ‘The Bag Lady’ and I have so many. If we are ever shopping in the mall, he purposely steers me away from the purse section. LOL
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:58 am.
LOL! I am not alone!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:47 pm.
True confession – How many do you own??
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:08 am.
I can think of probably 30 off the top of my head…. A lot of them are more tote style to carry my myriad of things you need when you ride around a lot with an infant.
My actual purse that I carry around every day is fairly small cross-body style and it has a card organizer that closes with a magnetic closure–got it at Macy’s and love it. I’m BAD at looking at Macy’s, QVC and HSN online at bags. Sometimes I actually give in and buy–LOL
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:51 am.
I looked up:
craft tables
Las Vegas hotels for my pass through on the way to LA
and, thanks to Karen Hawkins, steamer trunks.
This whole house is an unfinished project right now with trying to get the Geezer to go through All. This. Stuff. His expert level of procrastination has made me procrastinate less.
When I procrastinate, it is usually a book or something creative. Lacking the opportunity for those, messing around on the interwebs.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:38 am.
HE’s had a life time of practice, Sheridan. He’s a pro.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:09 am.
Just one more game of Spider Solitaire.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:56 am.
There are so many new fancy solitaire games. If one started down that path…
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:09 am.
Just spending time on the Internet is one way I procrastinate. I manage to check my email, go to TGB, then FB, a few other sites, then back to TGB to see what people have posted. Then must check FB again. By that time, I have more email. I’ve managed to stay away from Twitter and Pinterest after my disastrous time on Farmville. I was passionate about that until I stopped cold turkey.
Three things I looked up this week are: symptoms of sleep deprivation, phosphorous content of sherbet, and Amazon rating on some books I want to read.
My last, and never ending, project is organizing my paperwork. It has a life of its own and gets away from me before I know it.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:13 am.
I don’t procrastinate at all! Everything is SO interesting and it warrants looking into, right?! Yeah….I procrastinate.
I have been on Shutterfly a lot lately. I created a photo book, and am working on a calendar for next year. Of course, I’ll have to re-do it by the end of the year because I’ll have all new pictures of my darling little granddaughter to add to my photo albums I’ve uploaded.
I check out this site daily because you are all so interesting and I have to see what’s up.
I’ve been looking at HGTV and Food Network also because the finale of Design Star and Food Network Star are coming up.
Then, there’s the EW site and all of the TV Recaps of the shows I watch…. Yeah, the internet is evil.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:20 am.
it is horribly evil. I agree. I wish it had never been invented.
But then how would I look at cow art?? IT’s not as if there are studios for that sort of thing.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:58 am.
Yes, but that would be an even BIGGER time waster because you would have to actually DRIVE there….in Austin traffic. Internet is much better, right?
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:15 pm.
Oh my God, I’M DOING IT NOW.
I’ve got a desk piled with stuff that I’d really like to tackle in less than 3 days but I’m here in TGBville. Why did I come back here today? I need therapy.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:35 am.
Let’s do joint counseling, Fresh. The need to blog. The need to read blogs.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:05 pm.
Unfinished project= general organizing and cleaning
How I procrastinate = surfing the web, reading articles on various subjects, some of which I truly have zero interest in. Also planning trips I may not take—that is a big procrastination technique I have, and it gives web surfing some purpose.
3 things I looked up on the web this week= where do I begin? How to choose? Hmmmm. apartment rentals in Lyon, France; recipes for pulled pork (which I already KNEW I will not make because it is too much work); casual tops on flash sale sites (Is it just me who thinks that many tops this season are very ugly?) And for some reason I can’t find Project Runway here! In past seasons it was always there when I surfed the stations, or ads for it were, but now nothing.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:46 am.
This week, Madeline! July 19th is the premiere.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:08 pm.
Julia,
I share your pain! I am currently working on a new project in a Fast Draft workshop. I have to write 14 pages a day. I found if I have only 2 or 3 hours to do it, I can crank out the pages. However, if I have all day to do it (like today), I can milk the project for 8 hours. I exhaust myself with the time I waste. It’s maddening.
Glad I’m not alone…but maybe once we name our problem, we can beat it.
Best of luck with your deadline!
Alison
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:21 pm.
It is exhausting wasting so much time. Amazingly so.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:28 pm.
Procrastinate? Moi? BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don’t even know what the word means! I don’t even –
Ok, ok. I’m horrible about procrastinating. All of the time. And yes, it gets worse as I go. I don’t know if it’s age or, or, or … heck, I don’t know what it is, but oh, I hear you, sister.
And I need to get to work NOW. My deadline’s not far from yours.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:24 pm.
Stop yourself! Don’t do what I did! Don’t get to where you are hearing the clock tick down!
Hey, I need to clean my desktop. It’s looking kind of grimy. Anyone know a good electronics cleaner?
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:29 pm.
I really Procrastinated this week I started a pinerest account on-line.Seems like I am the last to know about things on the computer.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:12 pm.
Welcome to the dark side, Gail. Once you go in, you can never come out.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:30 pm.
How do I procrastinate? More like how do I NOT procrastinate!
I think “ooh, I’d like some tea…” then I get up and go about cleaning the kitchen before I make myself my tea. I also surf the web CONSTANTLY. I’m on here all the time, Pinterest, bookstore websites, I go on my Facebook page, my Twitter account (though I don’t really know how to use it), and I constantly check on my blog. Sigh. Too many things to keep me distracted!
Unfinished projects? Well… I could name a few… We bought paint when we first bought our townhouse, and those paint cans are still sitting in our garage. Shelves not put up, picture frames not put up, ‘junk boxes’ still unorganized… There are just too many to mention, really.
Good luck with finishing your writing!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:54 pm.
Oh yeah, the snack attack. Half the time I go into the kitchen and forget why I am there and start to do something else. I am easily distracted.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:53 pm.
I am the queen of procrastination. Sometimes things just aren’t that important. Or maybe they are and I don’t care. One of these days I will get around to organizing the spare bedroom. What another month or so.
I am at work and should be doing something productive but here I am on the web.
Other than the usual websites, I looked up directions to a winery where I was attending a bridal shower, boots for my daughter and waterfall braids. It’s a really cool looking hairstyle.
My last unfinished project…..my hallway. It used to be carpeted but I pulled it all up and exposed 50 year old (ugly) tile. One of these days I will get around to redoing the floor.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:30 pm.
I am so glad I did so much work to my house this summer, but man, one change leads to another. It never ends!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:54 pm.
I’m really behind on my book, so of course yesterday I looked up Prison Break to figure out if I want to keep watching it on Netflix (to be fair, I watched the first episode because I wanted to see Wentworth Miller in action, since he’s the physical model for the duke in my current book).
I also looked up the lyrics of a song. That’s my favorite way to procrastinate. That, or finding songs that are the right beat to add to my walking playlist. Yes, I am a sad, sad excuse for a writer. *G*
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:46 pm.
How about looking up actors you haven’t seen in awhile, or authors you haven’t heard from in a while? Rabbit trails! Lots and lots of rabbit trails!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 2:55 pm.
Oh my. I do that all the time! I hear something or see something about an actor or actress, and I immediately google them to see what’s been up with them. Sigh. Yet another way that I procrastinate!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 4:07 pm.
When I’m on deadline, all kinds of projects that I’m never that interested in otherwise seem totally vital: organizing DVD’s and typing up an alphabetical list, reorganizing the garage, coming up with a new organizational system for my research books, etc. You are not alone, Julia!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 3:39 pm.
That’s it, that’s the word I am searching for: vital. These things are VITAL. If I don’t do them now, they will never ever get done!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 5:06 pm.
I procrastinated on posting to this thread through an entire workday by doing some work related things. Also… surfing the internet for stuff I absolutely didn’t need to read, but it was the internet!
The internet destroys any free time I may or may not have had in the blink of an eye. I’ll sit down, intending to write an e-mail to someone, and three hours later I will realize that I have read about 10 articles, looked at 30 funny captioned cat pictures, learned nothing useful on Facebook, found an idea for a craft project I’ll never complete on Pinterest, and totally forgotten to send the e-mail. Hey look, YouTube!
This week, I have looked up practically everything on the internet! Movie times, Douglas Adams quotes, a photo for a character idea I had, a banana bread recipe, a blueberry cobbler recipe… Wait, that was just in the last 8 hours.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 5:50 pm.
Oh. Unfinished projects. Um. I bought some curtains for the dining room about three months ago, and I just got around to finishing hemming them. But I didn’t hang them up yet. If I did that, the project would be finished, and then what would I put off? Oh wait, cleaning out the garage…
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 5:52 pm.
monica that sounds like my day
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:23 pm.
I love that awesome authors like you Goddesses all procrastinate by doing silly things, too. That makes me feel so much more normal. I love you guys!
Posted on July 17, 2012 at 10:00 am.
Ok, ladies. Confession time. I’m not really a procrastinator. I was that annoying person who handed in the 25 pg research paper two weeks early in college…
I hate having things hanging over my head, so anything that really needs to get done is done ASAP.
If anything is procrastinated upon, it would be cleaning. But I don’t really plan on that. I’m just a slob
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:08 pm.
there had to be one cail!
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:24 pm.
I usually procrastinate by reading a book.
Internet today: so far I have been to Yahoo News because it is my homepage. Here and next will be the National Weather Service. After that I’ll populate my city in Metropolis (Facebook) then off the internet so I do not miss “The Closer”.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 7:57 pm.
yahoo news is a time sink! there is something for everyone for sure
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:25 pm.
With kids home for the summer and breaks between camps, I haven’t much opportunity to actually get within 5 feet of the computer. I’ve been reading a lot – it’s SO easy to download a book. I know I’m going to be hearing about it when the credit card bill comes, especially since I’m the one talking about going to England and Scotland next summer.
When they’re in school, there’s facebook, msn, the local news station (I swear I’m turning into my grandma and checking the local weather all.the.freaking.time.), both etsy and ebay for 30s-40s shoes and 30s-50s dresses, and 5 or 6 blogs – and it used to be more, but when the last computer got fried, my bookmarks didn’t make it.
What I should be doing is listing jewelry on etsy, as well as watching the videos for my online jewelry class (really cool earrings). Especially the online jewelry class because the videos will be gone August 15th. I’ve watched some of them, but not all of them.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:00 pm.
Janae, it sounds like you have a couple of websites you should list for the rest of us who procrastinate by surfing websites.
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:17 pm.
Hi Julia, I see you have used my cow painting here in your post, which is fine, I’m glad you like it. However, I would appreciate a link/accreditation as per my licensing terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_GB Thank you, Chris
Posted on April 2, 2013 at 4:05 pm.