by Darryle Pollack of I Never Signed Up For This
The perfect title for my blog. Art. Procrastination. The connection between them. But honestly I don’t even know where to start.
Should I start with the fact that there have been photos of mosaics on my blog since day one? But I’ve been procrastinating and haven’t yet explained why they are here?
Or that I’ve been blogging for two months and haven’t even learned how to insert a picture?
Should I get into the heavy duty stuff?
That I rent a studio where I work on mosaics, but since I started blogging I’ve barely been there?
Or how many projects I’ve abandoned in various stages of completion which are waiting for me to finish?
That if I focused on what I started I could have painted the Sistine Chapel by now?
When I say I procrastinate, I wish I was exaggerating. I procrastinate about almost everything, but rather than admitting everything all at once, I’ll confine myself to the subject of art. I would try to avoid discussing this even now, but the longer I wait, the worse it gets.
People who know me best know all this is true. Just like they never doubted the truth of what I found on my desk. My daughter Alli wondered why the list wasn’t longer—knowing there had to be more stuff. Which there is, but I didn’t find it yet—because I never finished.
Although we are related by blood, my niece Rachel is the flip side of me: compulsively neat and efficient –with her own business as a personal organizer. I am like her ultimate “before” picture and constantly dare her to come to California and take on the project of her life. Rachel has never asked me what happened to the mosaic mirror I promised to send as a baby gift for her twins –who were born last January. I admit it’s not finished or grouted yet, but Rachel will be shocked when she sees the evidence–right here–since she probably thought I never even started.
The worst example involves my friend Gale. I’m not sure I could even begin to describe the series of events that led to this. But somehow, Gale still speaks to me even though the mosaic tray I made for her is sitting right this minute wrapped up in a box in my house. I made this tray as a gift for her wedding…which was almost 3 years ago.
But all that is over. Tomorrow (or maybe the day after….) I’m going to ship out Gale’s gift, and grout Rachel’s mirror and start fresh. Summer is over, Labor Day is over, my blog is going, my studio is waiting for me to come back.
After two months, today I finally learned how to put some pictures in my post. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, that means I can avoid writing what I was planning about why I’m doing mosaics and art in the first place. I’ll write about that some other time….
You are an incredibly creative procrastinator. I’m in awe at the work in the great pictures you learned out to post. I’ve heard it said that procrastination and perfectionism go hand in hand. The P Twins. I believe this because they’re both standing on either side of me!
So here’s what I do when the P Twins are being a pain. I just pick one thing to finish each day and gradually my list dwindles down. The twins are never quite gone but I can often keep their nagging interference at bay. In your case, just slap a little grout on them!
Karen
Thank you all for all the supportive words and encouragement. I’m a little late…of course…getting to even see this posted here. And yes, I’m definitely productive, but can’t bring myself to do the little details. Like finishing. Like grouting. Or shipping. Which I am embarrassed to admit I still haven’t done on both of the things I mentioned, even though one of the reasons I did the blog was to embarrass myself into finally doing them!
Well I can see I’ve found the right place here for empathetic soul mates. Hope next time I can report that I’ve actually done these things. Thanks!!
Hi Darryle: We should swap procrastination stories some time! I have a laundry list of craft/knitting projects, home organizing projects, doctor appts, etc. etc. – the list goes on and on! Looks like you’re a pretty busy person with a lot of interests; that can make it hard to focus.
hang in there!
Your mosaics are beautiful. Don’t be too hard on yourself, one step at a time. I started a blog and then didn’t get back to write on it for six months.
I make my living as a writer and I know dozens of people who work in creative fields as writers, designers, artisans, and illustrators. And we all do it. Creative people procrastinate. The trick is to just accept it as a necessary part of the process. Not that I’m a paragon, myself, mind you. But I’m getting better at stepping back and recognizing that it’s simply how I manufacture the sense of urgency I need to overcome the inertia.
Ugh, I’m a terrible procrastinator too, I wish I could overcome it! Your mosaics are beautiful, and there do seem to be an awful lot of them – maybe you are procrastinating about selling them and/or giving them away?
Well, those pictures don’t exactly support the idea of you being a procrastinator extraordinaire! 🙂 Maybe it’s just a case of cobbler’s children have no shoes?? Congrats on learning how to insert a picture into your blog….one step at a time!