How many different excuses have you had for not turning your homework in on time? Everyone knows the classics: Your dog ate it, or maybe your computer crashed and it didn’t save, or you were sick all night and couldn’t finish it.
When it comes to procrastinating though, writers are even worse than high school students about completing assignments on time. Every writer has issued an elaborate excuse to an editor about why they haven’t finished a story. J.K. Rowling, however, has one of the most unique reasons for not finishing her story on time, except she swears it’s 100 percent true.
It started when Quite Interesting (the team behind the BBC show of the same name) tweeted a story about a weasel falling into a Large Hadron Collider.
In April 2016, the Large Hadron Collider was shut down after a weasel fell into it.
— Quite Interesting (@qikipedia) March 22, 2018
Soon after, Rowling noticed the tweet and couldn’t help sharing her own story about writers’ excuses.
I couldn't email my editor final changes on The Casual Vacancy from South Africa, because an aardvark had chewed through a power line. Nobody ever believes this. I think he struggled, too (the editor, not the aardvark). https://t.co/baKw9uJ6gj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 22, 2018
This may be the best excuse a writer has ever given for not completing their work on time…if it’s true. Rowling does have a fantastical imagination after all. She’s also a wonderful follow for aspiring writers on Twitter, often posting hopeful missives about not giving up and experiencing the same pangs every writer goes through, like rejection and fatigue.
When rereading last week's work, the trick is to stop for a biscuit just before your blood sugar levels drop to 'every single word of this is worthless.'
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 22, 2018
By popular request, 2 of @RGalbrath‘s rejection letters! (For inspiration, not revenge, so I’ve removed signatures.) pic.twitter.com/vVoc0x6r8W
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 25, 2016
So if you need some extra time on an assignment, just use the aardvark excuse. If it worked for Rowling, it should work for you, too.
