The room is empty, a girl sits down in a seat and finally starts writing. On New Year's Eve, she decided she would accomplish at least one of her goals. So as you do on New Year's she made a list. A big list. It told about all her creative endeavors. She was confident that she would get something done in the following months. But by the time the next year came, not a single box on that paper was ticked, the list was empty. She hadn't done a single thing. Usually, whenever she put something off she'd make excuses for herself, but not this time. You can only perform so many mental gymnastics before slipping off the balance beam and breaking a leg.

Ok, enough with this dumb narrative let's switch to an idiotic monologue. There's no denying it now I have a procrastination problem. I figured this out several months ago, years ago actually. I spent my days doing nothing worthwhile causing me to scrape my way through classes. In high school you can get away with it but not in college. College is like a forest. You are at the side of a road with a pack of other students. Everyone says you have to go through it. You may not even know what you want to do in that forest yet, but you run in head first because if you don't your parent will just toss you in there. Not to mention the ridicule you'll get if you defy everything, turn around, and head down the street instead.

Shifting your way through a forest you move with a group. If you're anything like me your group separates and runs off in all different directions so you end up having to trek it alone. As you go you have a feeling you're being watched. You can feel yourself being spied on by…something? From afar it doesn't look dangerous. It's are easy to deal with so you pay them no mind. You keep going for what feels like forever, eventually, you let your guard down. You sit down and laze off. But that's when they get you. BAM. you have an essay to complete in two days. BAM. You have Calculus homework due on a topic you don't even understand because you haven't been paying attention in class. MORE EXPLOSIONS. You're busy writing that essay and you have an exam coming up in a week. A week! you had months to prepare but now that monster is closing in on you because you were too busy playing video games, reading, and watching TV. They don't seem threatening by themselves, but when they join forces, that's when they become a problem. They all gang up on you, jump you, then throttle you all at once.

I've been mauled to the brink of death several times by these fiends but that's what's interesting about humans. We have superb abilities that separate us from common creatures: perseverance, intelligence, endurance…we have developed specialties that have allowed us to push forward and succeed as a society. So as a human who specializes in procrastination, despite my appalling beatings, of course, I didn't change! Even after failing constantly, I stood back up! I just found better ways to knock off tasks. I honed my last-second working skills, got better at internalizing a book's worth of information before a test, and heightened my ability to stay awake for all-nighters. I improved my expertise and admirably fended off those beasts by doing the bare minimum. But I suppose that can only take you so far. Doing the smallest amount of work can be stressful as hell when a final exam can make or break your grade.

At this point in this reading, if you're still even reading, you're probably thinking…what on earth is this loony bitch talking about? I'll be real with you, I don't really know either. I'm not the greatest writer so don't come to me expecting to hear a good answer. I'm better at thinking than I am speaking. I have an idea in my head but when I…have articulating my words they don't come out quite right. I guess you could say- they get lost in translation. I'll get to the point (she says after three paragraphs and a half). This was just supposed to be an introduction to my story...stories? My anthology series. As an expert procrastinator, I have gotten good at doing school at the last second, but that fantastic power is a double-edged sword. It has also seeped into other parts of my life. Anything I didn't have to do now I'd just do it later. This even included things I liked to do, strangely.

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I love art and I love storytelling. When I was little I would sit for hours scrawling into my notebook, with markers and crayons in hand, I would run off to my older sister so she could read the "picture book" I made. We would sit together and she would flip through the pages. Then my sweet big sister would turn to me, look me in the eyes and say-

"This is horseshit."

Ok, she didn't really say that, but if we knew curse words as kids she probably would've. In truth, we would just chat. She would nitpick plot holes, ask me questions, and give me ideas about my story, sharing them with her was really fun. But as I got older I wrote less and drew less. I became the type to consume a lot of media rather than make any of it myself. Fortunately, my passion reignited in high school, however, I would draw for fun but never practice it. I would daydream stories in my head, but never put my thoughts on paper. I never worked toward improving my passions. With school at some point I'm forced to do the work, because y'know deadlines, but with personal goals, there are no deadlines.

Well personal goals do have one deadline, it's in the name, your times up when you're dead. I don't want to be on my deathbed speed running getting shit done as the Grim Reaper stands there tapping his foot while he stares at his watch. So I've decided to stop procrastinating. Not because I care about school~ but for the sake of my interests. I've started trying to manage myself properly so I can do well in my classes and I no longer have to spend the time, I could be using for myself, sleeplessly working on things I should've finished days ago.

I want to be an artist and a writer and as part of reaching that goal I'm making this web novel. Every day I want to write just a bit, at least for 30 minutes, so I can practice writing and build some discipline. Although I am aware this writing is a steaming crock of dog water. I just want to write something. If I write every day, I should get better at writing eventually…right? RIGHT!? Well anyways because I'm pantsing (If you don't know what that means I'm not telling you) I don't have an idea of what I want to make next. This isn't a serious web novel, I just plan to write a short story on whatever comes to mind. If you have something you want me to make a short story about leave a comment and maybe I'll do it. I hope putting my words out online will motivate me to stick with this. That's about it.

The girl clicked in a few more words before slowly coming to a stop. She closed her laptop and stood triumphantly on her feet. In one swift motion, she gracefully grabbed her phone and plopped onto her bed to watch cat videos instead of doing anything eventful.

She looked up from her phone.

"I'm on winter break!" She squawked then immediately looked back down.

From how she acts daily, you'd wonder when this winter break of hers ever actually ends.