My cat is waxed to a fine, glossy sheen. Not my real cat Xena. She is giving me the stink-eye at this moment. Using that feline death glare, she’s reminding me that she was just at the vet last Friday where I stood by while unspeakable things were done to her, so I’d better not even think about waxing her. She remains unwaxed. My metaphorical cat has never been so shiny.
I never heard of the phrase until I read a post by Elizabeth Bear. I recognized what she was talking about right away. I am doing a lot of things related to writing. I wrote posts for my blog, including this one. I’ve read and given feedback for a friend’s work-in-progress. BayCon is coming up at the end of May, so I’n working on my costume for the Variety Show. (Watch this space for an upcoming announcement about me attending BayCon.) I ordered business cards and ribbons. All in all, I’ve been a very busy writer, except that I haven’t been doing any actual writing. All of these things are things that I need to get done. Some of them, I admit, are lower priority than others. There are hard deadlines that are involved. They are all, when it’s boiled down, excuses for me to not be doing what I need to be doing.
I’m still working my way through sections that should be rewritten or chucked entirely. I feel I should rewrite them, for practice sake if nothing else. The temptation to use the delete key wantonly is seductively strong. I have also had another idea that I am considering that will require me to rewrite what I’ve already written. Add in another round of self-doubt and family related stress and picking up the cat and applying a coat of wax sounds appealing.
Right now I am forcing myself to let go Xena, put away the can of carnauba wax, and fold my polishing cloth. She will thank me for it, and eventually I will too.
Ooooh, I love that expression, I think I will appropriate it. I do it all the time. It is a far better description of procrastination than anything else I have come across. You know you are avoiding something when you find yourself washing floors rather than start the job you know you should be doing. Now that I have a cat it is so appropriate. He came with the name Mac and is too old for me to change it but I do occasionally call him Mackie Boy from the Highlander episode, I can hear Nick Lea’s voice in my head saying it.
It’s a wonderful expression.
And I’m glad to hear about Mackie Boy. But now I’ve got Nicholas Lea’s dialogue from different shows running through my head.
After reconnecting with you, I found myself having one of those moments where I finished one task and not ready to start the next so I picked up my new tablet on which I had put four favourite vids. Two of those vids were Nick Lea. I tried the Lewis Collins one and the music came on but not the picture so I moved to Nick Lea…Original Sin by Meatloaf really suits him and when it finished I wanted to read something, I wanted more Nick. The zine I immediately thought of is the one I reread three to four times every single year….A Gift of an Enemy by Sylvia. Being a sloth, what has stopped this kind of impulse in its tracks for a long time is having to go and dig out the zines from boxes stacked in closet. Fortunately, this time, I have a copy on one of my e-books and so I started reading it and ah the memories, the sound of the voices ring in my ear. Last night I began and finished my Christmas shopping. Finances are rocky beyond belief this year and I was determined to be Scrooge but I am gutless. Didn’t spend much but I needed token gifts for superintendents and building cleaner. I see at least one of them countless times in any given day as I walk the dog. If I made no gesture I would not be able to look them in the eye. Because I got Mackie Boy, this year will be the first year I do not put up a tree or decorations and I am hoping it does not tank my mood. The first thing he did when he arrived was chew on one of my plants and puke on rug so I had to give away four of my plants – all poisonous to cats. What I need is a tree I can hang from the ceiling 🙂