Writer with Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies Productively Procrastinating

Lately I've found myself getting more in touch with my Type A personality by productively procrastinating to the nth power.

• Dishes need to get done
• Keep my organization technology all in sync
• Keep in touch with all my social contacts
• Scan tons of documents then shred them to make room in apartment
• Keep dishes washed to keep counter clean
• Put clutter away
• Provide tabletop gaming friends with information to cut down on time at sessions rehashing what's happened before
• Go through e-mails to keep in touch with people, delete a bunch, stay on top of stuff going on in the world
• Cut down on tasks, programs and e-mails that demand CPU resources needed to index information and e-mails
• Keep up with social networking streams to stay up to date with people and news in the world
• Read free newspapers to keep with the world and help prevent world from falling into chaos
• Write in blog to market self for when I finally have something to publish, people will want to read it and to keep self relevant
• Put together some type of tabletop gaming organization because I can sense the need for Chicago gamers to build that kind of community (and yeah, it'd be cool for it to reach the level of receiving compensation for it. . .to be compensated for something I can get excited about is a dream of mine)
• Stay in touch with people
• Keep up with movies and TV
• Keep food stocked but not overstocked
• Laundry
• Career development
• Work on bachelors project (tragic that this item added during an edit instead of rough drafting)

I don't want advice. Maybe a little help with the tedious labor stuff. If anything, I'm looking for understanding or, in this case, even a "Hey, that's just Lex. He's crazy like that." Camraderie with those facing the same issues would be nice.

In long run, though, my personality just thinks "Get as much tedious short term stuff out of the way then move onto the important stuff." I read somewhere that small stuff can actually give building sense of accomplishment and feed self esteem, so the big stuff doesn't seem so intimidating.

Maybe it also creates a sense of security. Sometimes that security, however, comes at the cost of productivity. Or does that productivity go away when you're dealing with all the tedious crap that's built up into a big pile of chores? Nonetheless, I'm actually trying to pare down these lists of mine to only do things truly important to me or will cause difficulty if not done.

Do other writers and creative types deal with this type of issue? Do they get distracted by bunches of little tasks that just add to clutter of cognitive dissonance? Or do the successful ones have the ability to not care about all the clutter and just move forward with putting their creativity out there?

I'd love to hear from other independent creatives out there on this one.

Wibbley-Wobbley Timey-Wimey: Boredom-Inspired Ruminations on Doctor Who

WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN SERIES 4 OF THE NEW DOCTOR WHO AND AFTER: SPOI. . .LERS!

With the premiere of Doctor Who Series 6 coming up in a couple weeks (whether I see the first two hours on the big screen or the 30" widescreen at home is still to be seen), I figure now makes a good time to publish these ramblings excerpted from e-mails to the wife one long day at work.

EXCERPT 1

Lately so bored by stuff going on that I'm trying to reconcile something in Doctor Who that's probably irreconcilable. Basically trying to conceive of other than being "anomalies" or a "complex space-time event" how is there a causal consequence to something like the Time Lords destroying time to ascend or the TARDIS exploding at all points in time & space? And also for there to be traces of said event in memories of other people but not the Doctor (especially if the Universe gets re-booted. . .does that mean the Universe is always being re-booted?).

In the idea of a space-time continuum, doesn't something happen or not happen, but at the same time. . .that steals away human or timelord agency. But if there's that agency, do multiple universes get created infinitely?

If that's the case, wouldn't all Universes have been destroyed by the Daleks' reality bomb since, in some reality. . .they would have successfully detonated it & destroyed all universes. . .

At the same time, if universes keep splitting, then there would probably be a subset of universes that get destroyed & a subset of universes that don't get destroyed. But in that case, what is the significance of acting if it all happens, anyway, except to accept that you have to act so might as well be the one trying to actualize the best universe possible.

But what about the Master and the timelords in The End of Time? Why would there be a sense of urgency for Ten to get to that point in time? If he eventually gets there & fixes the problem, wouldn't it be fixed, no matter when the Doctor gets there?

I'm sure most of this stuff is narrative fudging, but it's the type of stuff I think about when I get bored. It would be kind of cool to have an explanation of some type of "absolute measurement" that explains these situations when the author wants the Doctor to have a sense of urgency.

I don't know if this is the nerd in me or the author, though. . .if only I had something better to occupy my time. If I were more awake and alert, though, I'd probably be more likely to not think about this type of stuff.

EXCERPT 2

But of course the Doctor & then the Ood are time-sensitive aliens. The Doctor can see the past, present and future at the same time (but there's some things he can't see. . .how much spice has he eaten?). He can even feel the movement of the planet he's on.

The Doctor is so alien that there's things we can't conceive that he sees as elementary. Just look at what happened to Donna Noble when she had the ability to conceive of such things.

What a convenient out when the author wants to fudge something, eh? Cool to view as an author but friggin' frustrating as a geek!

EXCERPT 3

Now I'm wondering how much of the last Doctor Who season (Series 5) was also a meta-story as a production team transition story.

The Doctor is very much a child when he first shows up on Amy's doorstep, has to grow up really fast in 20 minutes to get on his feet, madcap adventures that tease people with the fun of new Doctor and Production then bang! Reboot Universe to make Universe 2.0, Steven Moffat style with something of an appreciative retrospective in the end to show that he had it all in mind when he started or something.

And Steven is surprised that he and his production team had staying power (Doctor being Steven/production team & Amy being the audience/BBC enjoying & not yanking the show & renewing it [Amy asking the Doctor if she was surprised at her great feat of bringing him back from nothing]. . .could easily take out the miraculous return of the Doctor & have the world going back to normal).

I wonder if Mr. Moffatt had something like that in mind when putting together the season. How postmodern.

LINKS OF INTEREST

Doctor Who, Series 4 of Doctor Who, Series 6 of Doctor Who, complex space-time event, TARDIS, timelord, Daleks, reality bomb, the Master, The End of Time, Tenth Doctor, Ood, time sensitivity, spice [from Dune], Rose, Donna Noble, Series 5 of Doctor Who, Amy Pond, The Eleventh Hour, Big Bang Two, Steven Moffat, The Big Bang