My number one tip for being the most unproductive person in the world is to always try to make the excuse, "life got in the way" a reality. Most of the time, that will consist of (pick one)...

a) Netflix binge-sessions
b) homework (which doesn't actually get done)
c) organizing very large, very tall stacks of books and then pretending to photograph them
d) writing only the beginning of blog posts
e) swiping across your phone's home screen a bajillion times
f) "working out" (those eyeballs, of course. Merlin ain't gonna watch itself.)

So here's what I've been up to in January to stay as unproductive as possible.


I catch myself in the mirror all the time pretending to make vlogs and q&a's with my sister (who is actually in the other room). Why I don't just film them I do not know, but yes, you can now @me about why I've been avoiding bookstagram.


This is when I'm actually being a completely useless human being. Perfect. Now I can sleep for five hours and pretend I don't have time to do anything but work out and spend time with my family because #lovemyfam.


@all my current novel projects.


Well, I've learned that my size is gone in basically every single style I like. Back to the drawing board (literally; prom dresses get handmade as a last resort in my house). 


HA. I love this one. It means I can hog the computer for several hours without getting kicked off. I usually spend the time getting off track and researching topics other than the one my English paper is about.


Well, this is actually slightly productive. I think my brain is getting tired of procrastinating by doing nothing, so now it's time to switch gears to procrastinating by actually doing something. How to Disappear was totally worth it, and Scythe is getting pretty awesome.


What is winter without spring cleaning?? I actually enjoy this one...putting stuff away is somehow therapeutic and makes me feel productive. Even though I really only clean the floor. Most of my stuff ends up on my dresser. I too question my life decisions.


Basically, I've noticed that the more I try to procrastinate blogging, the more my life turns upside down but clean how is this science?  I wonder what the heck I'm doing with my life. I like blogging. I like writing. I like taking pretty photos and turning them into header images, especially since now I have a template and I don't have to do much designing. So what is the matter with me? Why am I procrastinating?

Full confession: I'm lazy. I'm also scared. I'm not unmotivated, but I'm frustrated with myself because I make commitments and plans and I don't follow up. Which SUCKS, because now I'm pretty unreliable.

So let's talk about fear for a minute. What is there in blogging to be scared of? For goodness sake, it's blogging. It's not like the gauntlet or anything, with knives and tomahawks, and ancient hammers that weigh a hundred pounds. 

For me the biggest fear factor of blogging is the possibility that no one will read my stuff. Maybe that's a side-effect of running a virtually lonely personal blog for five years. #justmemyselfandI

I really don't want to be alone in my blogging universe.

Now let's talk about laziness.

I had a great streak for a summer where my posts were on fire and then things died down and I kind of...lost the ability to produce good ideas. It's hard to produce unique content on a topic people have been writing about for hundreds of years. So why not just do what everyone else is doing? They're doing good, so what's the harm? That's not what I WANT to do, but...it's easy.

Kids, the easy path isn't the way to go all the time. That's hard for me to grasp and hold onto because my whole brain is routed to find the best, easiest way. I really should be putting 110% into this, not 100%. And fear gives me a GREAT excuse to be lazy.

And then school started, and it got easier and easier every week to say "oh, I can't post this week. I have...stuff...to do." WHAT STUFF?? Crazy lady, get your butt over there and write that post you promised your readers four weeks ago. I'm having this internal battle and I think the scared/lazy side is winning. That makes me kind of worried.

So in conclusion, I'm going to let y'all know that it's going to be a struggle to get myself to post every week. I've built a terrible, hard-to-break habit. But I need to get into shape and organize my life better. I also need to stop being a scaredy-cat. What happened to that passion I had just a few years ago, when I posted five times a week? That's excessive, little Nicole, but bonus points for enthusiasm. 

I have the time to blog, I just...pretend I don't. And boy, am I succeeding. I almost convinced myself.

Excuses aside, there are some days when I really have been productive in other aspects of my life, and blogging actually becomes overwhelming for me. I'm not exactly wired for online interaction, but I push myself to do it and the prospect of scrolling through a blog feed, commenting on posts, and interacting with people becomes (quite literally) terrifying. #runforthehills On those days I'll give myself a break. As long as they don't happen every day.