Over-

I tend to procrastinate by over-doing: over thinking, over planning, over plotting, over writing, over editing, over obsessing about absolutely minor details.

For example, while writing my WWII novel, did I really need to research the history of the airplane and its use in battle? Probably not, not one iota was used, nor should it have been. History of the Vought Corsair, sure, but not every other plane from the Wright Brothers until the SST. Over research can be a real clog in the process. Overthing can happen when I can’t figure out what a character is doing next, and so I consider all the possiblities, but NEVER write any of them down, since I am not sure what I will do. But if I would only write down all the possibilities, when time comes to move on, I have options.

Options, there is another procrastination tool. I live in an over optioned society. Should I eat at any of the 40 restaurants in a 5 miles radius? Should I see any of the 20 movies at the local theater or maybe watch instead one the thousands of movies or television shows streaming. Netflix? Hulu? Amazon Prime? And if I do decide to finally write, on my Dell laptop? Old Macbook with slow internet? Ipad with keyboard? Alphasmart Neo (yep, they still exist and work great) Pen and Paper? So many options, so little actual work done.