Douglas Adams und die Prokrastination

Piers Steel ist (unter anderem) Prokrastinationsforscher an der Universität Calgary und Autor einer der lesenswertesten Studien zum Thema: "The Nature of Procrastination". Auf seiner Website Procrastination Central findet sich z.B. ein Fragebogen zum Messen der eigenen Prokrastinationsneigung, eine Sammlung von Prokrastinationszitaten und dieses Fallbeispiel:

"Surprising for a professional writer, Douglas Adams' ability to avoid writing was described as 'legendary.' Despite accruing nine books to his name before his death on May 11, 2001, he hated writing. Cups of tea, baths, and days in bed were his ways of putting off. He never overcame procrastination himself, but required publishers and editors to lock him in rooms and glower at him until he produced. This is not an exaggeration according to Adams or his friend Steve Meretzky. As Steve puts it, 'Douglas has raised procrastination to an art form. Hitchhikers Guide would never have gotten done if I hadn't gone over to England and virtually camped out on his doorstep.'

(...)

Sadly, Douglas Adams' procrastination robbed us of a tenth book, The Salmon of Doubt. For over ten years, he had promised delivery but died before even finishing a first draft. Like Coleridge, fragments of it remain, but not enough to piece together a coherent novel.

The major reason for Adams' chronic delaying appears to be task aversiveness. Though he was an able writer and extremely creative, he found putting pen to paper unpleasant. He put it off as long as possible, and then produced in a frantic rush when eventually necessary. With his wealth from this earlier bestsellers, it became increasingly less necessary and these delays stretched into years."

Mehr zu diesem Thema könnte man wohl dem Buch "Don't Panic" von Neil Gaiman entnehmen, wenn man es nicht verliehen, verlegt oder verschenkt hätte. Falls es wieder auftaucht, reiche ich die Details nach.