Are You Procrastinating or Percolating? How to Stop Beating Yourself Up for Not Writing
We writers (and writing coaches) talk a lot about procrastination—how it creeps in as resistance, keeping us from doing our work. Resistance wears many disguises: perfectionism, pessimism, procrastination. And if we’re not careful, it can grab us by the ankles and drag us down before we realize what’s happening.
But sometimes, we mislabel what’s actually happening and then beat ourselves up for not making progress.
That dawdling, that staring at the screen without typing, the Wordle break, the social media scroll, or the "just one more level" on Royal Match—what if that’s not procrastination at all?
What if it’s percolation?
Because here’s the thing: percolation is not time wasted. It’s time spent processing.
Procrastination vs. Percolation: How to Tell the Difference
Procrastination feels like avoidance. It’s a feeling of retraction and running—pushing the work away because it’s uncomfortable or overwhelming.
Percolation feels like curiosity (even if there’s some frustration mixed in). You’re not avoiding—you’re mulling, poking, and prodding at the problem because you don’t know the answer yet.
And yes, percolation can feel like procrastination because it doesn’t look like "progress." There’s no word count ticking up, no scene getting finished. But writing has this funny way of happening even when we’re not actively typing.
Sometimes, you just don’t know what happens next, or how it connects to the bigger picture. And you need to think about it.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
When Percolation Looks Like Procrastination
This recently happened to a writer in my group coaching cohort. She was stuck on a scene she’d been working on for a while and couldn’t see the way through. And then? Cue a post-Super Bowl deep-dive into Kendrick Lamar (me too) instead of writing + a few convos asking some probing questions related to her story.
Did some of that look like avoidance? On the surface, maybe. But in reality? It was giving her brain the space it needed to work through the problem without forcing it.
And sure enough, when she came back to the scene, she had a breakthrough! Now that scene is dusted and done and she’s moved on!
Stop Beating Yourself Up
Not all resistance is something you have to fight. And honestly? Beating yourself up for not making fast progress isn’t going to help.
As long as you’re staying engaged with the story—touching it, pondering it, nudging it forward—you’re doing the work.
That said, it’s still helpful to have some accountability so you don’t walk off set entirely. Check in with a writing buddy, set a small goal, or even timebox your percolation (i.e., “Okay, I’m giving myself 15 minutes (or a few days) to wander and think, then I’ll check back in”).
The creative process isn’t linear. Give yourself the space to figure things out. The words will come.
