I didn’t enter the latest SCBWI Slushpile Challenge but I fully intended to and in this case that ‘s what counts. OK so I lost my chance to have my middle grade novel seen by Julia Churchill at the Greenhouse Literary Agency – and I am aware of what a fantastic opportunity that would have been. But I found something I needed much more urgently. I found my main character’s voice.

The missing voice was the reason poor Sam was sat on the shelf while I attended to my YA characters but the Slushpile Challenge wanted middle grade so I gave Sam another go. Only 2,000 words to sell the story, 2,000 words to win Sam some friends. I’ve been churning that out daily for the non fiction work over the last couple of weeks and I have discovered that 2,000 words, fiction or non,  is no trouble at all when I have an imminent deadline to spur me on.

So thank you SCBWI for the deadline and the immediate motivation to whip Sam’s voice into shape. Nothing like a bit of pressure to get the muse singing.

All I need now is to fool myself into thinking there’s another deadline approaching…

Ultimately the decision depends on what you want your blog to achieve and how much effort/retraining/personality transplantation it will take to achieve it.

So what do I want this blog to achieve? Originally I thought I wanted it as a way of gaining real live readers – a way of getting my words out into the world. Yet I’ve never written it for the readers I really want (no offence meant dear reader).

While my first blog (The El Grupo Journals) was aimed at my target audience – teenagers and based around my first book (Becoming Invisible), this blog has been a space to talk about my writing and mostly about my procrastination.

Occasionally it is read by a fellow writer and strikes a chord but - lovely as it is to get feedback from actual readers, if I’m honest this is not the audience I am seeking, nor is it the writing I really want an audience for. I’m writing YA and when I get published (positive thinking here) I want my books to be read more by teenagers than by fellow authors.

So – no I’m not closing down this blog (especially not after announcing last week that it is good for me!) but I am going to slim it down. I have far too many essential forms of procrastination in my canon already and I’m about to add more. Therefore Daylight Procrastinator is about to go monthly.

It is time to become a far more disciplined procrastinator and to reach out to the young adults out there – my future readers.

These were my own invention – a card entitling the bearer to their own blog set up by me with ongoing tech support also from yours truly. The cards included a cover featuring a picture of the recipient surrounded by images representing their interests; an FAQ on the back; a more detailed explanation of blogs inside the card as well as a form to complete with desired blog name and password so that I could set the blog up for each of them.

Why would I think my eclectic array of family members would all want blogs?

My father is a story teller and verse scribbler as well as an expert in antiquarian books and literature generally. As such, he was my plus one at the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices launch last year. He spent his time regaling publishers with descriptions of his yet to be written book “Fragments”. He has plenty to say.

My mother is an armchair activist, preaching to the converted and arguing with the TV. She needs an audience. Then again she could blog about orchid growing.

Everyone has an interest, obsession or hobby they could write about. And of course blogs can feature video, photos and artwork so you don’t even have to write to keep a blog.

Will they all take up the offer? And what will they make of their blog if they do?

Watch this space…

So Happy Christmas to you all whatever you believe. Don’t forget the extra mince pie and brandy for your muse as well your Santa.

Blogs have helped me fix my computer, choose my car, cook to a forgotten recipe, write travel guides, send submission letters to publishers and keep up to date with developments in the book and film worlds.

A blog has occasionally reminded me that I am not alone in my eccentricities but mostly, for me, they are a source of reference material. Which leads me to wonder – Do I want to increase my readership by becoming more useful and informative (and indeed can I)? Or should I just continue prattling on and not worry about it?

Maybe other people have time to read blogs for entertainment and maybe those same people happen to be entertained by whatever obscure thoughts dance from my head almost weekly.

And maybe the publishing fairy is about to skip down from the skies and whisk my unfinished, un- submitted manuscript  into the hands of an eternally grateful, incredibly impressed and highly respected editor, who won’t mind at all that it’s not finished and is blithely happy to forgive the occasional super-length sentence and over-enthusiastic use of description.

Yeah – well – maybe not.  I’m not sure how or if I should make this blog useful but I am sure I’d feel cheated if I didn’t get to finish the book myself – however long it takes. Time to get back to making my own magic…

No – I’m really not being a pessimist – I’ve been here before after all and I’m looking on the bright side. Work has been great – satisfying, reassuring – reminding me that I can perform useful functions in the real world. But the return of the Dark Hour Muse will be most welcome. I have missed him and tonight he’s itching to pull the story together – to place the scraps, frame the plot and move forward in the correct sequence.

So back to the Dark Hour Muse and back to Destiny’s Game, this was but a small pause for procrastination.

Still at the back of my mind has always been this nagging doubt that it was work itself that was the problem rather than this alleged aversion to mornings. So – when the post office offered me a night shift as a Christmas casual I figured it was the perfect opportunity to find out.

This week I’ve been working 10pm to 6am – taking letters off the sorting machine, turning them upside down and boxing them by batch. And… It’s been great.

Going to work at 10pm is way easier than going to work in the mornings; there is a special camaraderie about the night shift and repetitive physical work is surprisingly satisfying.

Now if I can just work out when to sleep and – more importantly – when to write and keep up with the ecritique group…

I’m talking about charts, pictures, mind maps, character cards, more charts: accessories to the book and the planning.

Writing Room Wall

Notes 'n' Charts 'n' Things

Why is there then so little else to do that you can’t even procrastinate satisfactorily?

…And yet as the deadline approaches, urgent demands on your time leap from every shadow to scupper your well planned last minute panic?

This is the curse of the Last-Minute-Kid, as guaranteed as the toast landing butter side down. So when will I ever learn?