Some time ago I started writing about times when procrastination can be good - but I never got around to continuing with the subject. Recently my interest was renewed by reading a blog article by John Wesley, titled “14 Ways To Procrastinate Productively“. Just the sort of thing that simply must be read when you ought to be doing something else!

In describing how procrastination can be productive, he divides it into two categories. There’s Structured Procrastination, where the desire to avoid an important task can act as motivation for doing other valid tasks - like getting organised, networking, planning ahead, unresolved odds and ends, meetings, errands, getting up to date, and assisting others.

That makes sense to me; the last time I was a student and needed to study for exams, my procrastination led me to do vacuuming and other household chores as a means of avoiding studying. Necessary chores got done, which may not have happened if I’d had nothing to procrastinate about. Similarly, unblocking the gutters is a necessary task I usually put off, but given the choice between unblocking gutters or starting my tax return, I somehow find the motivation to go up a ladder and get my hands dirty.

Then there’s Unstructured Procrastination, which John Wesley describes as a way of recharging creative energy and allowing the unconscious mind to work on difficult problems. He includes examples like lunching, exercising, walking, relaxing, coming up with great ideas, and reading good books - in other words, using downtime (while procrastinating) to rest and refresh the mind. An example of someone flat out recharging his brain (at Lake Ohau, NZ) is pictured. If this means returning to the original task with renewed vigour and fresh ideas, then it could indeed be productive.

If you’ve got other more important things you should be doing but want to avoid, then you’ll probably appreciate John Perry’s Structured Procrastination website as well.

The bleak winter gale thrust its icy tentacles unimpeded up the bare legs of Jock McMuffin, inflicting painful shrinkage upon his manly appendages and reminding him that it was not a good night to be wearing a kilt outdoors … but having scaled the prison wall it was too late to go back for the long pants he now wished he’d worn instead.

What’s that all about, you may ask? Its just something I felt inspired to write after visiting the website of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest and reading the 2006 results. This parody contest is a “whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels”. It is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who is famous for the immortal novel opening “It was a dark and stormy night”, commonly viewed as a good example of a bad way to start a book.

Visiting the website and following the link to the Results of 2006 Contest will reveal a smorgasbord of entertaining and imaginative opening sentences. Reading them made me itch to write something, and the competition is open to anyone so why not have a go yourself?

If the purpose of a novel’s opening sentence or paragraph is to engage the reader’s attention and make him/her want to continue reading, then most of the winning entries do their job, even if they are supposed to imitate bad writing. And if you’re wondering why Jock McMuffin is scaling a prison wall in a kilt, or whether he escapes successfully, or if he gains comfort for his chilled appendages … then my dubious-quality example has done its job too.

Last time I wrote about a tool which I’m finding helpful in the task of writing a novel (yWriter novel writing software). To be complete, here are the other two tools which are helping me most.

1. PDA with fold-up keyboard

Many creative types feel most inspired when out in nature, walking, or anywhere else that’s far away from a desk with a computer on it. Some sort of mobile text capture device is needed to take advantage of these moments. While a notebook and pen has served well for centuries, a more modern and flexible way is to use a handheld computer with portable keyboard.

I currently use a Palm (Tungsten T5 model) with an infra-red wireless keyboard (see photo, coffee mug shows scale), though countless other devices will do the job. The Palm fits in one pocket, the keyboard folds up and fits in another, making it far more portable than any laptop. With an internet connection using a phone or wireless access in a cafe, any writing can be e-mailed to yourself, thus providing a secure backup method when away from home.

Most of my novel writing has been done on long weekends and holidays using this setup, or earlier equivalents. The small keyboard may take a little getting used to for some, but its fine for folks like me who spend most of their time thinking of what to type rather than actually typing.

2. Voice Recognition Software

I originally bought Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software for home use when I started developing an RSI problem, and have found it useful for all sorts of writing tasks, including e-mails and this blog. The latest version is uncannily accurate, and learns from its mistakes.

For novel writing, it allows creativity to flow onto the computer screen as fast as you can speak into a microphone. This leads to smoother “flow”, more natural written conversation, and greater output … or so I’ve read. I’m yet to achieve this - years of writing slowly is a hard habit to break - but the potential is there. Not having to use a mouse is a great occupational health bonus too!

Writing a novel has never been easy, and still isn’t, but with tools like these to help facilitate the process there are fewer obstacles than ever. Its getting harder to find excuses for why my first novel still isn’t finished!