The Destructive Power of Procrastination

with guest Terri Weldon.

Good morning and Merry Christmas Seekerville! Before we get started I’d like to thank Tina for allowing me to guest blog today. When she asked me about a topic, the destructive power of procrastination popped into my mind and I know why. It’s time for a true confession – I’m a habitual procrastinator. I’ve battled the problem for years. 

Webster’s Dictionary defines procrastinate as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” 

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I could end the post here. Then ask all the procrastinators to think how putting things off affects your life. But if you’re anything like me you’d probably pull a Scarlett and say you’ll think about it another day. That would get us nowhere. 

Procrastination has had a detrimental effect on my writing life. I long to do things in a timely manner, yet it never seems to happen. So what are the negative or destructive powers of procrastination?

1. Missed Contest Opportunities. I’ve seen announcements for some great contests. Final round judges would be agents and editors I’d love to read my manuscript. Then I’d look at the deadline for entering. A month away, plenty of time to get my submission ready. So I’d close the email (big mistake) and forget all about it. It’s hard to land the perfect agent or editor when they never have an opportunity to read your work. My new plan of action when I see a contest I want to enter is going to be different. I’ll stop right then, prepare my entry, and send it off. Wow! I can’t even imagine what that will feel like. 

2. Slow Rolling Revisions. I did a little research on procrastination. It’s more than a time management issue. People tend to delay when they feel fear, dread, or are anxious about something that is important to them.

 Can anyone say revisions? If an editor asks you to revise a manuscript, deep inside you hope they’ll buy your book. There’s also fear of rejection. Fear could be the systemic issue stopping you from jumping on those revisions. After all, I think the editor expects to receive the revisions in a timely manner. My personal fear is the editor will turn me down for being tardy with my revisions. Whereas they’d ask a writer with a faster turnaround time to make additional revisions. Any opinions? I’d love your thoughts or experience with this? 

3. Lost Submission Opportunities. Pelican Book Group has an open call for Christmas stories every year. Submissions are due by the end of May. Knowing the date should leave plenty of time throughout the year to write a Christmas novella. Yet as a habitual procrastinator I’m never ready. When you see a publishing opportunity such as a contest Love Inspired is running, do you have a polished manuscript ready to submit? Having a manuscript that's ready to submit is a must in this business. Anything less can cost you a chance to be published by your dream publisher. 

So far it seems like I’ve painted a pretty dismal picture. I apologize for that. Like so many weaknesses, procrastination is a lifelong battle. It can be overcome. Forgive yourself for being a procrastinator. Throw out the past and start with a clean slate. 

Ignore your feelings and get started writing. Focus on the action you need to take. Progress will make you feel better. 

This year I made a commitment to indie publish a Christmas novella. And I did! I didn’t have a clue how to indie publish anything. Fortunately, I have two friends who’ve had success indie publishing. I also had the unfailing support of my sister. So I focused on revising an existing novella. Once my revisions were complete, I had the manuscript edited and proofread. Then I asked another friend for recommendations on who to hire to create my cover. Thankfully my very talented friend volunteered. Didn’t she do an awesome job? I just hope my story is half as good as her cover! And on December 1, 2016, my novella, The Christmas Bride Wore Boots, went live. 

Did I do everything perfect? No, but I learned a ton. Most importantly, I met my self-imposed deadline. Let me tell you, that felt great. It renewed my confidence in my ability to write another book. I even decided to make this a three book novella series – The Berryhill Brides. Now I’m eager to write those novellas. 

Just remember the destructive power of procrastination can be overcome. 

You have it within you to break the cycle. For me, the key is in recognizing what drives my procrastination. Don’t let feelings of inadequacy stop you. I’m sure I’ll fail from time to time. That’s okay. I’ll choose to forgive myself, because then I’ll actually move forward instead of focusing on my mistake. Mark Twain has been quoted as saying, “If your job is to eat a frog, eat it first thing in the morning, and if your job is to eat two frogs, eat the big one first.”

Are you a procrastinator? If so, what helps you overcome the problem? If you aren’t a procrastinator, I hope you’ll share a few tips for meeting deadlines.


 I’m giving away three eBook copies of The Christmas Bride Wore Boots. Leave a comment and I’ll throw your name in the doggie dish. Winners announced in the Weekend Edition.

Terri Weldon is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys traveling, gardening, reading and shopping for shoes. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction. She lives with her family in the Heartland of the United States. Terri has two adorable Westies – Crosby and Nolly Grace. Terri is a member of ACFW and RWA. Her novella, The Christmas Bride Wore Boots, released in December 2016.


Readers can connect with Terri: Website: www.TerriWeldon.com or Blog: Seriously Write.

Pastor Jacob Thompson is in need of a director for the living nativity program and veterinarian Molly Kincaid offers to take on the job. The task involves far more than Molly bargained for, nonetheless she’d do anything to help out the man she secretly loves – even sew costumes or cast eight-year-old Wesley Simpson as an angel.

Jacob’s daughter Emma longs to have a mommy of her own, but the widowed pastor has vowed to never remarry, and isn’t ready to open his heart to love again. Molly dreams of filling the void in both their lives, but fears she lacks the necessary qualities to be a pastor’s wife. 


As Molly and Jacob work together on the living nativity, their feelings for one another grow. Will Molly realize she is just what Jacob and Emma need in their lives? Can Jacob be released from his grief stricken promise? Could this unlikely duo prove to be a match made in heaven?

Amazon: The Christmas Bride Wore Boots

Kobo:  The Christmas Bride Wore Boots

Where Do Story Ideas Come From?

with guest Terri Weldon.

Wow, can you believe we are already fourteen days into Speedbo? Time flies when you’re busy writing, plotting, or revising like mad. I’m plugging away on a Christmas novella. 

    I want to take a quick moment to thank Tina for inviting me to be a guest blogger this month. While attempting to come up with a topic that would (hopefully) be of some value to everyone, I mentioned to my sister I would be back on Seekerville as a guest blogger and that my article had to be on craft. DISCLAIMER:  Sis has given me permission to post this publically. About the third time I mentioned craft, she looked at me and asked, “Why did you agree to do that? You know you aren’t crafty.” Sorry, but it made me laugh and she is so right. If Tina had wanted me to talk about a hobby craft, I would have had to decline. 

    Since my plan for Speedbo is to write a novella, I knew I had to come up with an idea for subject novella. Bingo, my topic for Seekerville popped into my mind. Where Do Story Ideas Come From? 
 

    There is the tried and true “What if?” You see a picture, catch a snippet of a conversation, or read a new story and think what if such and such happened. I think this is one of the most common ways writers come up with story ideas. I know I’ve used that approach. In a romantic suspense manuscript I recently finished, I came up with the idea while at the hair salon. Now the salon seems like the logical place to overhear some juicy conversations, but my idea came from a totally different direction. I looked at my nice, always in a good mood stylist, and thought what if he went off the deep end and decided to give someone their final cut. You know, as in kill them.
 

    In another instance I had the first line of a story pop into my head. The villain whispered in my ear, “Do you know where your daughter is, Mrs. Bradley?” Of course once he asked the question, I had to find the answer. At the time I didn’t even know who Mrs. Bradley was, but I did know her daughter had been kidnapped.

    While brainstorming my Christmas novella, Mistletoe Magic, published last November, available on Amazon (shameless self-promotion) I knew there were certain things that had to happen. Originally the idea was a collaborative effort for a novella collection. A Mistletoe Festival was a must. This was my first time brainstorming an entire story idea with a group of authors. I loved it. While it felt like the overall idea for the story just popped into my head, I know my creative mind was set in motion by all the discussion between the four of us. Still, there were certain parts of the story idea that had to be developed on my own. My heroine is a librarian and she had to have a major role in the festival. How could I make that unique? Librarian, books, reading. She would have a reading room at the festival. Now what would make kids want to read at a festival? Rudolph! So her part of the festival became Rudolph’s Reading Room. 

    The idea for my current novella was much harder to conceive. I asked plenty of what ifs and none of them worked. The story is a romantic comedy, so there was no devious villain to whisper opening lines into my ear, and my hair dresser gave me a great new style, but nothing about him sparked an idea for my Christmas story. Finally my heroine, Molly, stopped by for a visit. She is a church secretary, hopelessly in love with the pastor, and she wears cowboy boots all the time. The matriarchs of Winslow, Oklahoma have her convinced she will never be a suitable wife for the pastor.
 

    Now that may not be an entire story, and I apologize to all the plotters who are shuddering, but it was enough to get my mind going in the right direction, to make a commitment to write that novella during Speedbo.

    So how about you, how did you come up with your current story idea? I’d love to hear your ideas. Leave a comment for a chance to win a ten dollar Starbucks gift card. After all, during Speedbo we all need as much caffeine as possible!

 About Terri: Terri Weldon's debut Christmas Novella, Mistletoe Magic, released last November from White Rose Publishing, an imprint of Pelican Book Group. 

 She claims her regular life is really pretty mundane, but refrains from saying dull! Terri enjoys gardening, reading, playing in the hand bell choir, and shopping for shoes (a habit she really needs to break). She has three dogs – a lovable mutt and two adorable Westies. She volunteers as the librarian at her church – she actually gets to shop for books and spend someone else’s money. Plus, she is privileged to introduce people to Christian fiction.

Terri is a member of ACFW and RWA. Stop by and visit her at www.terriweldon.com
 

About Mistletoe Magic: Mistletoe Joy (Misty) Winslow is determined to find her prince charming. She meets the man of her dreams through an internet dating service. Or is he? Because the new dentist in town sets her heart aflutter. 

It’s love at first sight for Tyler Davenport, but before he can finish his first root canal, Misty is involved in an exclusive online romance with Wes99. Tyler begins to get jealous of Wes99, his online persona! Soon he’s pulling out all the stops to woo Misty. 

As Christmas approaches Wes99 and Tyler both ask her to meet them under the Mistletoe. Which man will she choose?

Think it's too late to join Speedbo? THINK AGAIN! Details here.

Are You Rowing as Fast as You Can?

Are You Rowing As Fast As You Can?

Terri Weldon

Let me start by thanking the Seekers for allowing me to guest blog! I love my daily visit to Seekerville, so when Missy Tippens sent me the invitation I accepted so fast it probably made her head spin.

My journey from Unpubbed Island to publication was slow. Painfully slow. In fact, there were times it seemed like someone had stolen my oars. Imagine my surprise when I realized both oars were firmly attached to my rowboat. I just wasn’t rowing as fast as I could. In fact, there were times I didn’t row at all.  So today I’m going to share a few of the obstacles I encountered and discuss how I overcame them.

Obstacle:  The dreaded day job. I have a love hate relationship with my day job. The Lord has blessed me with a good job and it pays the bills, but as an analyst I use the computer a ton. So much so, that many days when I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is spend several more hours staring at a computer screen.

Solution: I wish I could say I took an early retirement offer and I’m writing full time, but remember my job pays the bills. So instead, writing is squeezed in during the evening, because I’ll never be one of those people who write for two hours before they leave for work. But back to the real problem, spending more hours on a computer. Hmm, let’s see, I need a few minutes after work to unwind. So I’ll play Candy Crush, logon to Facebook, maybe check my email, or spend time surfing the web. Whoa, wait a minute – those activities are all on the computer! If I take that same amount of time and channel it into my manuscript then I’ve managed to meet my word count goal for the day. And when all is said and done, that’s a great deal more satisfying.

                 

Obstacle: Treating Writing like a Hobby. Guilty! For far too long writing was my hobby. If I wanted to write, great. If I didn’t, no big deal. Well, we all know you don’t finish books that way. Much less get published.

                  

photo credit: Crestock/Alexmillos

Solution: The turning point for me came when I joined OCFW, my local ACFW Chapter. The gals and guys in OCFW are talented, dedicated, and determined. It didn’t take me long – ok blatant exaggeration – I’m a slow learner. It took me longer than it should have, to realize I could keep playing at writing or I could buckle down, give it my all, and hopefully achieve publication as many of my friends had done.

                  

This is the perfect place for me to mention the importance of a good critique partner. I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times, but a good critique partner is invaluable. In the past I had critiqued with various people, yet somehow things never clicked and the partnership would fall apart. In OCFW I met an awesome critique partner. She is an amazing author with the talent of an editor, who graciously puts up with me.

So keep looking until you find the right critique partner or group. It will take your writing to a new level.  

Obstacle: Procrastination. I wish I could find a way to sugar coat procrastination. I can’t. The hard truth is procrastination will suck the life out of you. It can single handedly keep you from ever leaving Unpubbed Island. If you can’t conquer, or at the very least, tame this beast your journey to publication will be like rowing through a storm. You’ll be heading for the shores of success and then a wave of procrastination will hit. Next thing you know the date to enter that contest will have snuck up on you and you didn’t get your pages finished. Or the opportunity to submit your work to an editor will present itself and your manuscript won’t be ready. How do I know? Sad to say, I speak from experience.

Solution: Confession time, I still battle this beast. And it bleeds over into every aspect of my life. Several things help me - a schedule, an accountability group, and a goal. Do you see a common thread? As a procrastinator you can’t wait for the muse to strike. It is imperative for me to have clear cut achievable goals. However, be cautious. When I’m setting a goal, I tend to be a tad zealous. Then at the end of the week, if I haven’t met my goal, I feel like a flop. Don’t do that to yourself.

Does that mean I never set a big goal? Absolutely not! I had maybe three thousand words of my Christmas novella penned and wrote the remaining twenty-two thousand words over a three day weekend. By the last day of the weekend, I wanted out of my chair so bad I could hardly stand it. But the joy I felt when I wrote THE END far outweighed my tiredness. And that manuscript led to my first sale!

So tell me, are you rowing as fast as you can? What are some of the biggest obstacles you face as a writer and how have you overcome them?

Leave a comment for a chance to win one of three copies of Mistletoe Magic and I’ll ship you an Amazon voucher for a copy the minute it’s available. I promise not to procrastinate!

About Terri: Terri Weldon's debut Christmas Novella, Mistletoe Magic, releases 1 December from White Rose Publishing, an imprint of Pelican Book Group.

She claims her regular life is really pretty mundane, but refrains from saying dull! She and her sister, Cynthia, share a house in Oklahoma. They’re the best of friends and share many of the same interests.

Terri enjoys gardening, reading, and shopping for shoes (a habit she really needs to break). She has three dogs – a lovable mutt and two adorable Westies. She volunteers as the librarian at her church – she actually gets to shop for books and spend someone else’s money. Plus, she gets to introduce people to Christian fiction.

Terri is a member of ACFW and RWA.

About Mistletoe Magic: Mistletoe Joy (Misty) Winslow is determined to find her prince charming. She meets the man of her dreams through an internet dating service. Or is he? Because the new dentist in town sets her heart aflutter.

It’s love at first sight for Tyler Davenport, but before he can finish his first root canal, Misty is involved in an exclusive online romance with Wes99. Tyler begins to get jealous of Wes99, his online persona! Soon he’s pulling out all the stops to woo Misty.

As Christmas approaches Wes99 and Tyler both ask her to meet them under the Mistletoe. Which man will she choose?