I was going to procrastinate but I decided to wait until tomorrow

If you keep up with my FB posts https://www.facebook.com/author.cindy.jacks or Tweets https://twitter.com/#!/cindyjacks, you know I've been under the crunch to get a manuscript finished by my deadline--May 1st. Eeeek! Shouldn't it all be spit polished by now, you say? Yes, yes it should be, lol. Naughty little author that I am, I procrastinated until the last minute.

Now in my defense, I was working on other manuscripts, the characters I didn't have to cajole out of their sullen silence, sleek plot lines without holes or fat, stories about which inspiration abounded. But the closer the deadline for Smuggler's Blues drew, the more I had to stop making excuses and stop playing with other stories. I don't really get blocked so much as distracted. So I shifted my focus to Kate and Brett Logan and the dystopian future I'd created and got to work. And I didn't let myself down. It will be finished on time and it will be good.

But why did I have to let it go so long in the first place? In my teens and twenties I was obsessive, working ahead as much as possible, but as I've gotten older--and had a family--I find myself more than willing to put off till tomorrow what I should be doing today. Let's face it, quiet time is rare and valuable these days so perhaps it's not so much procrastination as preservation of my tenuous grasp on sanity (Hey! I am hanging on by a thread, thank you very much!).

Whatever the reason, my work ethic isn't what it used to be. Then again, sometimes creating under pressure brings about moments of brilliance. And sometimes it doesn't, lol. Luckily this time it worked out and I can't wait to get to work on the next book in the Pirates at Heart series titled Sailor's Knot...I'll get right on it...tomorrow :)

What do you put off doing until you absolutely have to?