Procrastination

'I write every morning. I have "trained" my family not to ask anything of me before lunch.' Survey respondent

Distraction and procrastination

A topic close to the hearts of our readers is grappling with the distractions and procrastinations that stop them writing – which is why 2,827 took part in our survey on the topic.

'I'm interrupted by small voices going "MUMMY MUMMY MUMMY, I NEED YOU MUMMY, I NEEEED YOU! I’VE BROKEN MY NECK AND I NEED AN ICE CREAM"' Survey respondent

Top of the list of distractions turns out to be the demands of friends and family (reported by 69%), followed by emails (52%), phonecalls (35%), noise (22%) and texts (21%).

In terms of procrastination, the biggest culprit is housework (61%), followed by reading (51%), social media (42%), watching TV (33%), ‘unrelated admin’ (33%), ‘inessential research’ aka browsing cat videos (25%) – and just ‘wandering around aimlessly’ (14%). 

'It's amazing how attractive dusting becomes when you are procrastinating.' Survey respondent

Let us know if you’d like to take part in future research.