08.29.08
Once again…Yak Shaving 101
According to Wiktionary.org, yak shaving is “any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you’re working on.”
For writers, yak shaving goes something like this: you’re under deadline and go into your office to write, but your desk is covered with the detritus of your life. You simply can’t work like this, so you decide to clear off your desk. While you’re organizing, you might as well alphabetize your magazines. And your spices. Which reminds you that you have a bunch of recipes on your desk, so back into the office you go. Where you make piles of said recipes and more magazines (oooh, more alphabetizing!), and books, and small pieces of paper with phone numbers for people you met once but now can’t remember. So now you’re ready to write, but your desk chair now holds a pile of books (alphabetized, of course). As you lift the books (to move them back onto your desk, natch), you notice that the cushion of the chair is pretty sparse. You simply can’t work like this, so you decide to make a new cushion for your chair. The best padding for a chair cushion is yak hair. Next thing you know, you’re off in search of yaks.
All in the name of getting your book done by deadline, of course!