I'd rather be doing anything else...

Also glad you've tiptoes back into the WIP -- and yes, there is a WIP-a-phobe disease. It's called the "I'd rather be doing anything else" syndrome. Otherwise known, around here, as "I guess I'll just clean the oven again."

In honour of Anne McAllister's visit to this blog's comments, (Hi Anne!) I thought I'd compile a list of my top ten 'anything elses' that I've found myself doing over the writing years.

Ten Things I've Done When I Should Have Been Writing.

1) Painted the bathroom.
It didn't need doing right that instant. Really.

2) Cleared out a blocked drain.
With my bare hands. Well, mostly. There were rubber gloves involved. Which was a good thing, because the mud and building debris was one thing - the rotting chipboard and decomposing slugs were an entirely different proposition. Who knew slugs could get more slimey.

3) Cleaned the toilet.
Come on, this one's practically traditional.

4) Cooked.
And baked. And cooked some more. And stir-fried, coddled, fricasseed, scrambled, poached, steamed, grilled, griddled, boiled and stewed. But mostly baked. Usually bread.

5) Had sex.
Man cannot live by bread alone, but needs a bit of crumpet.

6) Organised my books by category and author.
That was a long, long day.

7) Killed elves.
Don't worry, I don't hunt the fogotten trails of myths and legend. I play computer games. It's just that there seems to be a elvicide theme running through the games I play. Do you think it's a short men thing, or a pointy ears thing? Was I somehow traumatised as a child by Tom Cruise or Mr Spock?

8) Cleaned out cat's ears.
I really didn't know ear wax could be black. And moving.

9) Scrubbed carpets.
I don't mind the stains which I can attribute to known accidents, it's the unidentifiable stains that bother me. And the fact that when I've finished scrubbing them, I then have a noticeable clean patch in a sea of bile green carpet.*

10) Scrubbed algae covered flagstones
Currently, algae is the least of our problems in the back yard. If you open the back door at any given time, up to eleven semi-feral farm cats will fall into the kitchen. I could swear they are practicing feline pyramids up against the door.

What about you? What's your procrastinating activity du jour?

*We didn't choose that carpet. It was in the house when we got here. Although I'll admit that green monster's pretty damn indestructible. Apart from the stains.