Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Reading Time
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Highly Recommended
      • CBCA Short Listed
      • Early Childhood Books
      • Younger Readers
      • Intermediate Readers
      • Older Readers
      • ANZAC books
      • Great Read Alouds
      • Information Books
      • LGBTQIA+
      • Picture Books
      • Professional Development
    • Interviews
    • Suggestions
    • News
    • Meet The Review Team
    • Contact Us
    Reading Time
    You are at:Home»Interviews»The Virtue of Procrastination

    The Virtue of Procrastination

    0
    By Admin on May 8, 2018 Interviews, News

    In a belated stop on her blog tour with Books on Tour, author of The Trouble in Tune Town, Maura Pierlot, sings the praises of procrastination…

    The Trouble in Tune Town came about as a happy accident, the result of productive procrastination.

    The book was inspired by our children, who loved to play piano but were never keen to practise. Our most musical child, perhaps not surprisingly, was the most vocal critic, insisting it was all so boooring: the music theory and all those scales, the songs assigned, the repetition of lessons. Every parent I bumped into echoed this experience – music lessons were a chore for many kids and often a source of tension for families.

    While waiting for my son at his weekly music lesson five or so years ago, I penned a simple rhyme:

    Practice should never be a fight. If you’re having fun then you’re playing all right.

    Although I was busy with my YA manuscript and dramatic writing at the time, I couldn’t stop thinking about the rhyme. I imagined a frustrated young performer blaming the uncooperative music notes, soon discovering they have flown off the sheet, leaving Tune Town without any tunes … on the day of the big recital. The story grew from there.

    I took my time playing around with the text over a few years, often returning to it when I was deferring other deadlines and commitments (read: procrastinating). I thought the cadence and meter of rhyming text served the story well, only to discover when the story was finally finished that many publishers were not enthused about rhyme generally.

    Hybrid publishing soon emerged as the best fit, offering the perfect mix – back-end support when I needed it, but the freedom to help steer the ship, so to speak. I wasn’t interested in self-publishing. I had finally stepped back from our business to focus on my writing, and I didn’t want to get bogged down in marketing, sales and distribution – at least I didn’t want to be the only personal responsible.

    Although music features strongly in The Trouble in Tune Town, the story is about trying your best, learning from your mistakes and not giving up. It’s about self-belief, stepping outside your comfort zone and enjoying the process rather than focusing too much on the outcome – a lesson I had to keep reminding myself when writing the book!

    I’m still procrastinating – although I prefer to say temporarily delaying. In fact, I’m writing this article now while on a KSP Fellowship in the beautiful Perth hills because I’m stuck on a key scene in my play. I think procrastination, if managed well, can pay huge creativity dividends. It allows the mind to wander, while remaining aware of a looming task or deadline, and encourages innovative thinking. At least that’s what recent studies suggest. Not that I’ve read them – I’ve been too busy procrastinating!

    Maura Pierlot

    Related Posts

    Meet Jules and Pierre-Jacques Ober

    Announcing the 2022 Book of the Year Awards Shortlist

    Meet Amelia McInerney

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    • Themes
    • Curriculum
    Action adventure Airplanes Alphabet Anxiety autism Bullying CBCA Awards Coming of age Dystopian emotions family fantasy friendship grief Historical humour magic Mystery Post apocalyptic Readers Cup reluctant readers school Sci-Fi series of books siblings Sport Starting school Teacher Notes
    ANZAC Australian animals Australian history Biography Culture & Diversity Disabilities First Nations Geography health Humanities mental health Poetry Reconciliation resilience Science STEM Stolen Generation sustainability Wordless books



    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    Recent Posts
    • It’s Up to Us
    • The Bravest Word
    • The Ghost Locket
    • The Ghost Locket
    • Enough Love?
    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    © Copyright 2021 The Children’s Book Council of Australia - All rights reserved

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Posting....