Beat those nasty deadline blues

Deadline is the great motivator.

Without deadlines, there’d be a lot fewer books on library shelves and a bunch more half-finished stories growing fuzzy with dust and mold in laptops around the world.

Maybe you’re already that organized kid who, as soon as the teacher assigns a research project with a one-month deadline, starts on that very night. You work on it daily and turn in your triple-checked report secured in a professional binder a week and half before it’s due.

Most of us hastily scribble all the facts we can make up on the topic—if we remember the topic—on notebook paper on the ride to school while the bus jounces over every single pothole along the way—some of them twice. Trying to dash off a monthlong project in twenty minutes while your head bounces off the school bus ceiling gives a guy a headache in more ways than one.

Someone once quipped that we should never put off until tomorrow that which we can put off until the day after tomorrow. That’s lousy advice for writers.

Missing deadlines is not an option. It doesn’t matter how wonderful your writing is—if it’s not turned in when the presses are ready to roll, you’re out. Someone less talented than you whose work is on the editor’s desk will take your place. Publishers have deadlines too. A so-so story in hand beats your promise of pretty writing that’s nowhere to be found.

Try these tips to deal with deadlines:

Prioritize. What needs done? In what order? What steps are needed—research, phone calls, outlines?

List it. Divide your projects into manageable tasks, and write each task onto a block on a big calendar. Now each mini-job has a specific date.

Be realistic. How much writing can you do in a day? If your schedule only allows twenty minutes before bedtime to write, by all means, grab it. But don’t promise a publisher than you can complete a novel in two weeks. That’s not enough time.

Do chores first. It’s too easy to distract yourself when you remember in the middle of sentence that you forgot to clean the cat’s litter box. (But do you REALLY need to arrange your CDs in alphabetical order by genre, or are you just stalling? Get  back to work!)

Plan for interruptions. Some crisis will crop up to ruin your schedule. So work a few buffer days into your timeline. If you don’t need them, great—you’ll finish the project even sooner.

Glue your rear to the chair. If you wait until you “feel like it,” the writing won’t get done. Set a schedule and discipline yourself to stick to it.

Take a break. It’s amazing how many problems your subconscious mind will untangle when you step away long enough to take a walk, play a quick game of catch or take a shower. So chill for a few minutes. Okay, good. Now get back to work!