Of Good Report—January 2004

Of Good Report
January 2004
Page Three

Publishing Procrastination

by Karen Baker

As an 'unpublished author', I find I am fascinated by the lives and writing processes of 'published authors'. Whether it is out of admiration or some misguided way of comparing myself so that I constantly come up short (thus giving me an excuse to not make an effort toward becoming published), I'm not sure. Some of both and maybe something else, but, whatever the reasons, I seek articles by and about them. Often, I do try to emulate these authors and follow their advice. On that note, I know that we each have articles, stories, poems, and even novels that could be publisher-ready with a little work. I recently read an article (which I have excerpted here) that hit home for me and made me a little more optimistic about overcoming my habit of procrastination and my chances of succeeding as an author.

In the June/July 2003 issue of Real Simple magazine, Leslie Marshall, a freelance magazine writer and single mother of three, gave some tips about publishing her first book. One of her earlier articles in this same magazine focused on her ongoing struggle with procrastination and other hurdles as she aimed to complete her first novel. The first draft of her first novel had sat abandoned in the top of a closet for 2 ½ years when she decided to tackle her severe case of procrastination head-on. Setting a deadline for herself of three weeks to make the novel 'agent-ready', she pulled it out of the closet and began revising. Her novel, A Girl Could Stand Up, was published in June of this year. Following are some of her procrastination-buster tips:

Don't let modern technology slow you down. (Write longhand if the computer crashes.)

Throw a little money at logjams. (Hire a typist or babysitter, order in dinner…)

Nothing in life is unbearable if it's only for three weeks. (McDonald's, videos - they won't kill the kids for a few days.)

Make a day-by-day plan and revise it day by day. (Articulate your conscience.)

Don't expect to do everything at once. (Focus on your big goal. Whatever other fronts you fail on can become your big goals another time.)

For an instant sense of hope and order, clean the kitchen thoroughly. (It works - it really does.)

Ms. Marshall says that "between the day I first got my manuscript out of hiding and today, an eclectic handful of additional lessons has surfaced - about goals in general and books in particular."

The moment when you think you have finished is the moment when the real work begins. After the three-week stint of revision, she gave her manuscript one last look and sent it to her agent. The agent, of course, found a few more fixes so she went back to the drawing board.
Appearances count, so do computer tricks. She signed a contract with Grove Atlantic and her editor looked her in the eye and said, "This is just too long for a first novel. You must cut 100 pages." She went home and combed through it mercilessly. In the end she had cut only eight pages. She confessed, "Looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, I changed fonts: from "Courier New" to "Times New Roman". Bingo! Eighty pages gone."
Achievement is a gradual pleasure - a process of growth, not a grand finale. "Publishing my first novel…involved a lot of hard work. The time finally came when the book would soon be out there, in stores. I couldn't polish it anymore; I had to let it go. But probably the most exciting thing about publishing my first novel is that I finally have time to concentrate on a second one. And this time, I've wised up. I've nailed shut all the closets in my house. The book will never be allowed in there."

I have been planning on submitting this article to the ANWA newsletter since I first read it in that June/July 2003 issue. I even called Theresa Sneed back then to ask if she thought I should submit it. She encouraged me, but I procrastinated. I think I was waiting till I thought Kerry might be desperate enough to accept an article from me just to fill space. Apparently it worked. Karen B

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