A Five Step Procrastination Guide

We’re nearing the end of NaNoWriMo, which is the time of the month when all those moments of procrastination have added up, and now you’re looking at your word count and can’t see hope of recovery.

Well. If you think you can’t do it just because you fell behind, you’re wrong! You’ve never been more wrong in your life! No shame in being wrong. But you are. You are wrong.

In this post, NaNoWriMo participant Sarah Lefebvre gives some sage advice to all our procrastinators out there:

NaNoWriMo encourages writers to pick up a pen or cozy up to a keyboard every day for the length of November, all in reach of the 50,000-word holy grail. Success requires dedication, time management, and consistency.

Or, if you’re a master procrastinator, it requires a dash of lunacy and a significant supply of sheer willpower.

I fall squarely into the procrastinator category. In fact, the higher the pressure radiating from a responsibility or commitment, the more my procrastinator brain relishes putting it off. Each year I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo, I started the contest late. Sometimes I didn’t expect to participate at all until after it began. But each time, I made it to that 50,000-word goal. So, from one procrastinator to another, here’s my guide for succeeding in NaNoWriMo despite a late start.

Step One: Start on the first day?

Yawn. Where’s the fun in reducing stress by allowing ourselves maximum time to achieve our goals? Leave that to the people who don’t want to lie awake at night calculating how to manage a daily word count that escalated from 1,667 per day to 3,813 (and counting). Instead, start when life—or your procrastinator brain—makes it possible. Maybe that’s one day late, or three days, or two weeks. As long as you start.

Step Two: Embrace the Pit of Despair.

Admit it: if you’re truly a master procrastinator, you probably like it. You know that feeling when you’re halfway through NaNoWriMo, your word count tracker has flatlined, and your characters refuse to write themselves? Rather than allow it to bog you down, embrace it. Turn it into your fuel. 10 days and 25,000 words to go? That’s not terrifying. That’s exhilarating.

Step Three: Establish accountability.

The hardest part of winning NaNoWriMo as a procrastinator is knowing when to stop procrastinating. Put someone—your critique partner, writing friend, mom, significant other, cat—in charge of checking in on you. Did you write the two chapters you promised to write, or did you binge watch five episodes of The Good Place? If you have someone keeping an eye on you, you might be more inclined to do the former.

Step Four: Reward yourself, don’t punish yourself.

Procrastination and instant gratification go hand-in-hand, but you can turn that to your advantage. If you find yourself procrastinating from your NaNo goal, don’t punish yourself with discouraging thoughts or relinquished activities. Reward yourself before and after the work. Watch the TV episode you’re dying to watch, do your writing, and then play a game—or whatever it is that serves as reward in your life.

Step Five: Take a deep breath and have fun with it.

NaNoWriMo challenges us and teaches us lessons about time management, daily writing, and establishing goals. But most importantly, NaNoWriMo should be fun. Whether you start on Day 1 or Day 21, have fun with it. Revel in the challenge and know that choosing to write, whether you ‘win’ or not, puts you ahead of where you would be if you did not write at all. Maybe you arrived late to the game, but at least you showed up, so make the most of it.

Tackling NaNoWriMo as a procrastinator means turning an already difficult challenge into a true feat of strength. But if you choose to start your NaNoWriMo journey later than the first day, know that you too have the power to cross that virtual finish line. And you might feel all the more impressive for doing so (at least, that’s what I tell myself every year).

Sarah LeFebvre is a self-proclaimed master procrastinator, Walt Disney World cast member, and writer of LGBT Young Adult fiction. Alongside three writing friends, she co-runs @WriterCoven, a Twitter account dedicated to putting writers in touch with the magic of writing. When she’s not working or writing, she’s probably attending to the whims of three cats or giving into her Sims 4 addiction.

Be sure to visit her website to see more of her work, and follow her on Twitter!