I made some progress on the story earlier this year, but it wasn't enough to publish the story. I pulled up the manuscript a few days ago and I can't believe how close to finished it really is. I've talked about my growing propensity to procrastinate and I assure you I'm not happy about it. It seems to be a problem I developed during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and I've not yet overcome it.
Yes, retirement should be the time of life when you do only what you want to do, but that doesn't mean it's okay for ME to get lazy. I don't approve of laziness unless I've scheduled a day for it.
After the Sea Sprite Ball has been moldering on my hard drive for far, far, far too long. It's a testament to just how long I can ignore a project and that isn't how I want to manage my time or my writing career. I can look back and see those events that derailed the momentum I had - Mom's Alzhiemer's diagnosis, my stepfather's death, the death of my writing partner, my husband's three surgeries, the pandemic, and finally all the job preparation for retiring. Had those events not been crammed into a few short years, I may not be sitting here with an old manuscript to finish.
There has always been discussion among authors about whether or not it's good to finish an old manuscript or abandon it. I can only speak to what I think is correct for me. I need to finish the story as much to prove to myself I have at least a smidgeon of self-discipline left as well as for the advantages of having another book on sale. And if my shored-up self-discipline leads to cleaning up several more of the currently out-of-publication Rayne Forrest books, so be it. I won't complain. Refocusing on my writing is one of the reasons I retired, and that includes both new and old stories.
It's time to get to work. This morning was slated to be a wood-splitting day with my cousin, but we're still having rain, the remnants of Hurricane Ian. I may be brave and don my raincoat and go out to shoot a video of my hideaway to preserve this rainy, foggy morning before I get to work.
I'll call that taking advantage of the moment and not procrastination.
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