Harder to Think About Than to Do

 

Sylvie says doing is more fun than thinking
Sylvie says doing is more fun than thinking

We all have things in our life that we spend more time thinking about than doing. We may even procrastinate on these things until they become so big that we finally have to deal with them, whether we want to or not. The funny thing is, once we do them, we find that the thing wasn’t that big a deal. I don’t know what that thing is for you but for me it is editing my stories.

I write first drafts all the time. Characters and their stories fill my brain until I have no choice but to write them down. But I rarely turn first drafts into second drafts. I think about it all the time but I don’t work on it. It’s easier to just write another first draft.

As I explained in my last post I do sometimes edit my stories. And when I do I find it goes much smoother than I expected. So why do I spend so much time thinking about editing and so little time doing it? I need a way to remind myself when it is time to start editing that it isn’t as bad as I think it will be. (Crickets chirping)

The first thing that came to mind was “Just Do It” but I know that doesn’t work. If it did I would be great at everything. Maybe I need a reason. When I worked on my book last week it was because a publisher had requested mystery submissions and I wanted to get my mystery in shape to send it out. The trick with that deadline was that someone else made it. I’m really good at breaking my own deadlines. The three projects I currently need to edit have no outside deadlines. So I am not sure if that is the answer or not.

Well, I have fallen into a familiar trap. I am thinking about editing more than I am actually editing. I have sat here looking at this screen trying to figure out a plan for hours. So here is my plan. I’m not going to have one. Planning is like talking and I am done talking about my plans. So here is my non-plan. I will edit one of my projects every day. Period. It’s not pretty. I’m not even going to make a chart to record my progress. I’ll just do a little every day. And I’ll report back here in a while to see if my non-plan is working.

“The way to get started is to stop talking and begin doing.” Walt Disney