Procrastiplanning: Break the Cycle

In a recent call with a historical fiction writer, I mentioned the term procrastiplanning:

Learned a new word from book coach @monicacoxwrites : procrastaplanning. The word perfectly sums up the countless hours I spend planning what I need to do next in my #WIP rather than actually doing it. #writing #WritingCommunity #amwriting #historicalfiction

— Laura Johnson (@lamighell) September 26, 2022

Several folks chimed in that they often have the same issue so I wanted to take a deeper dive on what procrastiplanning is and how to break the cycle.

First of all, I wish I could remember where I heard the term first so I could give proper credit to that genius. All I can say is that I didn’t invent it, but it did resonate with me in much the same way.

Procrastiplanning is basically whatever work you are doing in the name of your novel that is keeping you from actually writing your novel. It can look like several things:

• Research on a person, place, or event that takes place in your novel (whether you are writing historical fiction or not)
• Interviews related to a character’s occupation or a medical procedure or what it was like to live in a place at a certain time, etc…
• Site visits for setting details
• Google Satellite Image searches or Google Mapping for logistical details
• Baby name searches to find the perfect name for your characters
• Looking up the weather in a certain area at a certain time of year
• Outlining, outlining, outlining without writing
• Writing extensive backstory for every character no matter how long they are on the page

The list goes on and on from the big to the small things.

The tricky thing is that all of these things are important to do for your book. As a coach, one of the things I work with clients on is pre-writing work. I am definitely not advocating you skip that step or that you don’t try to get the details right or ignore your own blind spots and write characters without walking in their literal shoes for a bit in an interview or job shadow. You should do those things. And despite my love/hate relationship with it, I am definitely not insinuating that outlining is bad.

Research and outlining are important parts of the process. The danger is when they become the entire process.

The end goal is to write a book, not compile an index of materials. At some point, you actually have to stop researching and stop planning and WRITE THE BOOK.

So, how do you break the cycle?

• Determine why you are procrastiaplanning. You can’t fix anything until you acknowledge what is really keeping you from the page. There are a lot of internal fears (fears about our skills, fears about what others will think when they read it) that can keep writers from the page. Recognize those fears then ask for them to take a back seat (check out this animated version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s letter to fear from Big Magic). Drafting is your opportunity to tell yourself the story. No judgement. And if there is a skill that is lacking in your writing, you will most certainly figure it out in revision and can make a plan to fix it then. Don’t let your fears of what you can’t do keep you from doing what you can.
• Trust the research and pre-work you’ve already done and just start writing. Any time you have a question about accuracy or timing or whatever, highlight it on the page. I also like to keep a running list next to my computer of things to look up later so I don’t stop my flow to look something up. You’ll be surprised, however, at how much you’ve already internalized from your research that will naturally color the page as you draft. If you rely too much on your research WHILE you’re writing, you run the risk of writing a research paper. Write the story, let the research and detail you’ve found enhance it in revision. Same goes for those in-depth character sketches. Yes, some pre-work on your characters is necessary, but let them reveal themselves to you a little as well when you put them in the tricky situation of your plot.
• Do a limited outline. If outlining tends to be a months long endeavor for you and you never quite get to the drafting stage, stick to the major scenes in your novel (opening scene, inciting incident, midpoint, climax, final scene) and see if that can get you to the page faster. Outlining, like plotting out a course on a map, is a great tool for keeping you on the right path. But a rigid adherence to it can also keep you from noticing the beauty during the ride. Try starting and you can always come back to the outline later if you truly need to plot out a different route.
• Take full advantage of TK. TK is an old journalist term for “to come.” There are several scenes where I’ve inserted a “TK” in place of a specific date or an insult in dialogue I need to be perfect but don’t want to spend too much time thinking on in the forward motion moment. You can use this for historical details like setting descriptions or event summaries so that you can keep writing forward in your manuscript without getting lost in a research rabbit hole. Here are a few examples of how I have used TK in my current draft of a contemporary Women’s Fiction novel:

Example 1:

The small ceremony in the Coker Arboretum on the university campus under the [TK TREE?? Go visit and get an idea!].

Example 2:

“What did your client say?”
Sydney [body language depicting her reluctance/guilt TK].
“Sydney? You there?”
“I didn’t tell her,” she admitted.

I have been guilty of procrastiplanning that also looks like:

• Having the perfect amount of time, noise, and mental space to write. While all those things are important, I have found some of my most productive work in the waiting room of a climbing gym while my kid takes a class or on the sidelines waiting for soccer practice to end. You can train yourself to ignore the pull of the perfect scenario but setting a timer and only committing to 5, 10, 20, or 30 minute writing sprints when you have the available time. Eventually, your muse will get the message and show up when you ask vs. you waiting for her to show up when the stars happen to align.
• Creating a spreadsheet to track word count or revision tasks. Again, these things can all be helpful until they become the task instead of whatever task we initially wanted to measure. Just get started. Don’t let the time intensive creation of the spreadsheet or whatever keep you from starting. A sticky note with the time you started and stopped writing or the a running tally of word counts will suffice until you have time to create that spreadsheet. Or use an app for time tracking that does the hard work for you. I use Toggl.

My point is, we all do it. Writing is hard. And we, as humans, do not like doing things that cause discomfort. So we naturally choose the things that feel more comfortable or seem easier to complete. Research can feel like progress. Character sketches and family trees and detailed maps of a fictional town can all feel like progress. But if the goal is a novel, we eventually have to sit in the discomfort and put the words on the page.

You can do it. You have an idea and I know you have the passion. Start small–commit to one ten minute writing session BEFORE you’re allowed to do any more research or planning. See how it feels.

If you need additional guidance, don’t be afraid to ask for help. A book coach can help you plan your book’s foundation while also supporting you when the time comes to do the actual work of writing.

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Happy Writing!