A Guide to Procrastination

I have taken on the Nanowrimo Challenge this month. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, although it has become a global phenomenon. Every November, writers from around the world vow to write 50,000 words towards a new novel in one month. Because I’m a little bit extra, my goal is 80,000 words, which is how long I intend my project to be. Let’s see how this goes!

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The Project

My manuscript is called The Carnival of Fools, and is the second book in a young adult paranormal series I’m working on. A carnival arrives on the island of Arcadia, and the people living there begin to act very strangely. A group of misfit teens need to discover what spell has been cast over them all, before chaos destroys their peaceful town.

80,000 words is a lot! That averages out to 2,666 words a day. I need to really get my tail in my chair and work. So of course … I’m doing every but.

Procrastination! It will be the death of every writer.

5 Things to Do Instead of Writing

Reading

I need to read lots of books to become a good writer. That’s canon for authors, you hear it everywhere. Now is obviously a good time to tackle my ever-growing TBR list!

Doodling

Doodling is scientifically proven to encourage creativity! This isn’t wasting my time, this is stimulating my mind and improving the brainstorming process. Perfect time to do it?

Cleaning the house

Just kidding. I didn’t do that.

Do my nails

I mean, I’m going to be staring at these fingertips for the next month. They obviously need to be pretty, right?

Baking Bread

The pandemic made it cool again. No better time to spend hours away from my desk making fluffy, yummy bread. Actually, I’m fibbing here. While I love baking and cooking in general, I’m actually terrible at those things that take real precision and perfection, like breadmaking. It’s one of the reasons I never make pie crust. (Let’s just say I’m not exactly Type A.) But I have been spending far too long at my breadmaker, trying to serve my family homemade bread every day.

Taking pictures of food and books

I spend way too much of my life doing this, it’s insane. My phone keeps track of it for me, and let’s just say I am uncomfortable with the numbers.

Honestly, there are so many fun ways to spend my time that don’t include writing, and I’m determined to find them all! Some are still somewhat on task, even though thinking about my manuscript does not in reality increase my word count. But if you’d like to see my aesthetic, check out The Carnival of Fools Pinterest board. And don’t forget to have a listen to The Carnival of Fools playlist.

I don’t consider keeping in touch with you a waste of my time! I will be blogging every Friday, as well as posting a new book review every Tuesday, so keep on coming back. And my newsletter will be out at the end of the month, with new secret recipes and a perfect book recommendation for the season. PS, the recipe pictured above, white chocolate pumpkin scones, was shared in the newsletter. Sign up for more awesomeness!