I know lots of people, who, as they work, think, “This is crap!” and are incentivized to keep going, to edit, edit, edit until the work sings. Me, I take a different approach. I delude myself into thinking what I’ve written is brilliant. How could I keep going otherwise? I work hard on one draft, then read it and put it away. I’ll close that sucker and when I get back to it days or weeks later, I can see where I’ve gone wrong.

Then I start the cycle again, thinking, “This is GREAT! I love this!” Then I put it away for a bit (sometimes longer) and see all my weak parts and errors. I love this process. It’s energizing. It’s like climbing a staircase. I trudge up each flight, working hard, and then, when I hit the landing I rest, and am proud that I’ve made it this far.

So my positive thought is that what may seem like procrastination is actually beneficial to the creative process.