I’m coming off a 6-day caffeine-fueled, sleep-deprived writing push. Some people might’ve thrown up in their mouths a little while reading that. Just thinking about the desperate race against the clock…the jittery chills…the simultaneous belief that sleep and a sudden burst of literary genius are just around the corner is not everyone’s idea of a rewarding experience. I, however, happen to love it.
It’s always been that way. No matter how my parents tried to instill in me proper study habits, Sunday night would inevitably arrive, and while the rest of the family watched TV or battled it out over Bubble Bobble and Burger Time tournaments, there I’d be at the kitchen table, books and papers spread out like tarot cards, telling of my future of procrastination.
The same habits followed me to college–I was notorious for churning off a full research paper in two days: the first would be spent scouring my sources. The second was anywhere from an eight to twelve hour marathon in the computer lab (back in the days when we had to share computers). I always had intentions of starting earlier–I’d go to the library a week or two before the assignment was due, sit in a big comfy chair next to all the real students, thinking maybe I could catch whatever gene they had to make them study, and then promptly decide I had more important things to do, like protest sweatshops and shave my head.
My hair’s longer these days, but I’m still playing the last-minute game. Except now, I don’t fight it anymore. Procrastination gets a bad rap. It’s the scarlet letter of academia–somewhere along the line, someone decided the true mark of a good student and therefore an eventually good and successful adult is the ability to spend as many hours over as many days as possible completing a project. Really? How many hiring managers do you know whose first order of business is to find a candidate who takes 3 weeks to work on that TPS report?
Ok, ok…I’m being a little one-dimensional. I’m not hating on those of you who prefer to chip away at things; my point is that it’s exactly that–a preference. Starting and finishing a project in the same day–cranking stuff out in an 8 hour stretch–has never seemed quite as celebrated as I think it should be. We procrastinators do just as much work as you chippers do, you know–and sometimes, even more (and in less time).
But now, I am secure in my procrastination. I have come to realize that it doesn’t matter if you work on something over the course of 3 weeks or 3 days, as long as you hit your deadline. The tricky part comes when I have to work with someone else who is a chipper, like Kim.
Poor Kim. She’s definitely in the camp of believing my M.O. is defective, but she’s been a good sport about it. When we first started our book, the excitement carried us through our first mini-deadlines to our first quarter deadline. Even after that, we still managed to mostly maintain our chapter a week pace. But this quarter nearly killed her, I think.
How a chipper copes with a procrastinator
While Kim’s been dutifully plucking away at the keyboard for the past couple of weeks, my writing didn’t begin in earnest until a little less than a week ago, which is mostly okay because we’ve come up with a good system where we divide up equally the chapters for each quarter. She writes hers, I write mine, and then we swap so we can edit and fill in the blanks on each other’s. That’s where it got hairy for her–since you know, she has a day job and all.
So today, after our marathon, I was able to sleep in later than she was, and since then have spent the day stumbling around the house in a caffeine withdrawal haze–doing brainless things like cleaning (though I’ll admit that I needed a bit of a pick me up to do this blog). I’ve been able to revel in my exhaustion and accomplishment and feel like a writer. She, on the other hand, had to pull it together after a couple of really late nights and go into work.
I do feel badly about that.
But on the other hand, I feel really happy for myself. This is the life I wanted–a few days…weeks…of crazy, round-the-clock hours for the rest of the month off.
We’re moving into the final quarter and it’s going to be even tougher. Not only do we have more chapters due, but we have all the extra stuff–the intro, bios, and acknowledgements–to complete. And did I mention I’m volunteering for AIDS/LifeCycle 10 right before our deadline of June 13? Um yeah…about that. I’ll lose valuable procrastination time, so I better hurry up and start waiting now.
Actually, my deadline is June 2, since I leave on the 3rd. I have no choice but to just keep going. The good news for Kim is that even if I’m still up at 3 am on Friday June 3, furiously hunched over my laptop and playing it like Schroeder, I’ll still beat our editor’s deadline by 11 days. Not really sure how I feel about that. It might ruin my reputation.
I’m a little sad that we’re nearing the end, but super excited that there will soon be tangible proof that leaping does pay off…and more importantly, that chippers and procrastinators can live and work together (as long as there’s a hearty supply of coffee, 5 Hour Energys, and wine).
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