In addition to writing short stories, SMFS member Judy Penz
Sheluk writes novels. Like the rest of us, she procrastinates when she should
be writing. Below are her top five ways of doing so.
Judy Penz Sheluk: The
Fine Art of Procrastination
I’m going to let you in on a secret: I procrastinate, even
when I have a deadline looming large—or perhaps because I do and suddenly it
all begins to feel a bit overwhelming. Here are my top 5 ways to fritter away
the time I should spend writing:
Pinterest: Don’t
get me wrong, I love Pinterest. If I’m looking for a recipe, or how-to build a
wood shed, Pinterest is the first place I look. I have 26 boards relating to
movies, books, TV shows, running, golf—the list goes on—and because my profile
is linked to my author website, occasionally Pinterest will bring me some
traffic. But Pinterest can also be a place where I spend way too much time
pinning pins instead of spinning a yarn.
Facebook: The
original time suck! I used to have an author page only, so I could justify the
time spent finding and scheduling posts. In February 2015, Facebook changed the
rules and everyone with an author page had to have it linked to a personal
page. Now I’m able to double the time I spend on Facebook…of course, on the
plus side, I’ve made a lot of new friends!
Googling Under the
Guise of Research: Research is as much a part of writing as the actual
writing; some might even argue it’s more important. After all, one wrong fact
and you’ve lost the trust of your reader. It’s when I start googling things
like “was there a full moon on May 1, 1980, when my protagonist, Callie
Barnstable was born?” That might be important to know if I was writing a
vampire series. I’m not.
Who was that actor in
that TV show I watched last night and why can’t I remember what he/she was in
before?: The ultimate mind niggle that won’t let go. It happened to me
recently, when I was marathon watching the excellent series, Friday Night Lights (I don’t know how I
missed it originally). There’s an actor, Gaius Charles, who played Brian
“Smash” Williams, and I’m thinking…where do I know him from? I’m running the
shows I regularly watch in my mind, and saying, nope, nope, nope, when suddenly
I remember: Grey’s Anatomy. He was
Dr. Shane Ross. This of course, leads me to do another google. You never know
when Gaius Charles trivia can come in handy.
Office Cleanup: Cleaning
up my desk drawer, sorting my paperclips by color (because what self-respecting
author would have those plain metal paperclips), tidying up my bookshelf,
typing up labels for my file folders using a different font…
What’s not procrastination (even when sometimes it feels
like it is)? Writing blog posts, like this one, to help promote my latest
novel, SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC. So, without further ado, here’s the
blurb. Now, before I get back to my work in progress, I just have to get back
to sorting my paperclips.
Judy’s latest release is Skeletons
in the Attic, the first book in the Marketville Mysteries:
What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…
Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s
the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she
is shocked to discover she has inherited
a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However,
there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to
Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.
Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery,
but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is
more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart
Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she
ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?
Judy Penz Sheluk ©2016
Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose,
was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first
book in her Marketville Mystery Series, was published in August 2016.
Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The
Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live
Free or Tri.
Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of
Canada, International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
