Deadlines don’t freak me out. Wait. No! Reasonable deadlines don’t freak me out.
Give me a two day deadline for a 5,000 word essay and, you know what, I’ll probably make it but I’ll be cursing your name six ways to Sunday. Give me two months for the same and, well, that’s plenty of time. I’ll start tomorrow…maybe on the weekend.
You know full well I’ll do it at the last minute cursing my own name this time instead of yours.
My relationship with deadlines is married to my preternatural predilection for procrastination. Only a deadline will light enough of a fire up my butt. Without one I’ll procrastinate until whatever it is I needed to do no longer needs to be done or everyone related to it has forgotten about it, including me.
The trick is to use that deadline as kindling.
I’m a visual learner so I map out the timeline. Nothing says rapidly approaching deadline better than, well, a rapidly approaching deadline I can see hurtling toward me as I cross off each day I’ve wasted. Know thyself, and how long the tasks you need to do take you.
I have trouble both with starting and finishing things, so I don’t make my goal ‘finish this big thing by this deadline.’ That’s a sure way to panic and defeat. I break that timeline up into easily manageable chunks. They’re small enough to be easy and quick but add them up, those chunks get things done.
Day one: open a new document, give it a name, save it. That’s all. If I start, great. But giving myself permission to not do something is often the key to doing it. Day one is just creating the new document, I don’t have to write anything. Without the pressure of starting I might just start. It’s a little game I play with my mind and it seems to work.
And if I can’t figure out where to start I do the easy bits first. Never mind what order you’re “supposed” to do things in—rules are for breaking. I know I can write a methods section easy peasy, so I do it first and make a start.
All of this takes practice and is a lot more complicated than just throwing some finger guns, a wink, and saying, “You can do it!” But I would say, don’t let the deadline own you. You own that deadline and show it who’s in charge.
Give me all the deadlines!
Writer, scientist, and polymath, Jamie Ashbird's book A Question of Time, comes out with Improbable Press later this year.
Follow the Law
By NovaNara
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
I swear by Parkinson’s law often since I discovered the book—which my mum bought at a second-hand shop because she needed change for parking, of all things. Sure, the author exemplified it with bureaucracy…but writing, in my experience, is much the same.
I try not to give myself deadlines so close I know it’ll be infeasible with my current situation. But really? If I have a month, I’ll write it in a month. If it's due in three months, I can assure you it’ll take three months.
Each day I’ll open a calculator and check just how many words I need to get out to get my story out perfectly in time and without stressing. Half the time, depression, messaging, or other Important Life Things will erode my time and sanity until I can’t write even a line.
So, the following day, back to calculating I am. I hate hate hate disappointing people, though, so close to a deadline the only person I am still in contact with is my beta, bless her for being related to The Flash, while my writing somehow magically triples. In fact, I’ve learned to warn my friends so they don’t worry that I’ve fallen in a ditch and died because of the sudden lack of any news.
I’m starting to suspect I’m related to donkeys. Dad always said that they’re slow and stubborn, but will sprint when they’re close to home because they sense the end of the trip.
Oh well. The important thing is to actually get to the end of the road, isn’t it?
Elena writes as NovaNara and you'll find her Sherlock and other stories on AO3 with stories also on Fan fiction.net.
Talk to us about deadlines! What do you think of 'em? How do you tame them?
Chocolamousse
I don't freak out about deadlines because I don't get close enough to them to freak out, the thing is behind me before I know it no nO DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT I'M JOKING.
Dee @72gowerstreet
I used to run screaming from deadlines, but fandom encouraged me to rediscover the biological sphericals required to take part in challenges. To meet a challenge deadline is to honour a commitment. Sometimes I meet them with time to spare; more often I'm screeching to the line with minutes to spare. Each one feels like a victory where participation is the prize on offer.
Dr Nicko @nickovdw
I have always had very sympathetic publishers lol. However, I find it easier to break up the day into mini deadlines, then it doesn't seem so daunting. My coping method for editors...well, that involves incantations and pins...lots and lots of pins. ;)
JoolesKTC @JoolesZa
P A N I C. Be unable to write due to stress of deadline because waited until last minute! Wake up early on weekend morning, have some caffeine, and write A L L day until it's done. Sleep for half a day the next day.
Just call me Faren @Thrasirshall
Silence, mostly. I tend to listen to an ASMR playlist, and take frequent breaks just to think or reread my work. I do the same thing with fan fiction as I did college essays, though fic is a lot easier. I'm one of the rare few that cannot listen to music at ALL while writing.
Kameo @KameoDouglas
I would [talk about deadlines] but I have a deadline.
Noadventureshere @HoltzTrudy
My brain nopes hard out of creative deadlines. Writing with a deadline in mind makes my brain roll over and play dead. Nothing creative comes out, only research papers. My brain will not be forced. It would rather do nothing. I managed to get a Christmas fic out in time for New Years, but it didn't want to be written at all until the (self-imposed) deadline had sailed on by. I just revise my expectations. Next year's Christmas fic writing starts now.
Phage
Oh man. Deadlines. I miss almost as many as I meet! I think the biggest thing is to know your limits and productivity cycles. Don't promise more than you can deliver and know when you should promise less because you're not going to be as productive. Then, if you can, work with someone who's willing to be flexible with deadlines because they understand that shit happens and that creativity can be a fickle mistress. Doing both might keep you from pressuring yourself too much, which can kill motivation. Also, don't be afraid to start over! Sometimes it's faster to break it all down and put it back together than it is to try fixing it from the middle.
Rebecca N
The big picture always looks overwhelming to me; setting smaller, more attainable goals makes it easier to work through a project. I make a list of the parts I'm responsible for, and then I work through them during the time allotted. I also check them off as each one gets done because it's very satisfying to look back and see the progress!
Sara Dobie Bauer @saradobie
Don't even think about the dumb deadline. Set a daily writing time window (say from 7 to 9 AM), and stick to it no matter what. I do five days a week. Cut out specific time in your life for writing only, and you'll probably be finished way before the deadline anyway.
The Sword of Damocles
By Tessa Barding
Deadlines.
The word that strikes fear into many a heart.
Deadlines.
Hated by many, loved by few.
Guess what: I like deadlines. Deadlines are my friends. They help me stay focussed and organised, and besides, ‘deadlines’ is not a very nice name. As far as I know, the term originated around the time of the American Civil War and signified a line no prisoner should step over or else—dead. Small wonder they strike fear.
I prefer to think of deadlines as target dates, as final milestones.
You see, I’m too lazy for bullet journaling but I do keep a paper calendar into which I write stuff that needs doing and target dates that must be met.
I don’t stick to it religiously, i.e. if Wednesday says ‘laundry’ and Friday says ‘develop kissing scene’ but come Wednesday I feel like writing, I shift my to-dos around as I see fit. But fixed target dates get written down in red ink and they help me focus because as soon as I’m off (offline, off duty, off people) I tend to dawdle and jump from project to project—look at that pair of socks, it really needs finishing; oh, I’ve not picked that book up in weeks, where did I leave off?; did I ever finish that TV show?; I have the urgent need to practise copperplate…you get it.
Project-jumping is not a bad thing per se because having so many things that bring me joy helps me stay sane. But when there’s an actual project to finish, say a professional manuscript to hand in with my publisher, even dawdle-time must be planned or else…deadline = dreadline.
And so I sit down with my calendar when there’s something coming up with a set target date, and I break the time period down into manageable steps. Baby-steps are so much easier to manage than a huge blank space with a scary deadline at the end. Breaking your project up into bite-sized morsels is so much less scary than staring into a black hole.
Don’t turn the deadline into the sword of Damocles. Set target dates instead. Reaching a target is much more of a motivation than meeting a deadline because target = achievement. Deadline = will I drop dead once I cross it?
Deadlines. Don’t fear them. Break them up. Bend them to your will. They’re not so scary after all.
Tessa Barding's first novel, The Case of the Misplaced Models, will be published with Improbable Press in 2019, and she also writes fic as Lobstergirl on AO3.
Aliens Need Not Apply
By Atlin Merrick
I have two ways I tackle deadlines. Before I share what they are I want to share something I know to be true:
Everyone balks at deadlines.
Read this telegram Dorothy Parker sent her editor and which Neil Gaiman blogged. Then let me tell you about my screenwriting tutor in London. The one who wrote for a hit BBC show. The one who, along with her colleagues, would sometimes wait "until the last minute" before finishing a script. Yeah. Writers. For the BBC. On a successful show. Dragged their heels, too.
So, just know…everyone balks at deadlines.
What too few do is meet them. But meet 'em we can! One thing that really helps me make a writing deadline?
Not being anywhere near my computer.
When "real life" calls, I take a story or an article with me in my fluffy-haired head and throughout the days before a deadline I think about it. Casual like. Sneaky. So it doesn't know I'm there.
Then often, so often, all that thinking pops up something sweet for a story, something vital for an article, and so the next time I'm at my computer I—*bam*—start there.
The second thing I do, if I haven't had any sweet revelations, if my worry about the story or article or deadline has turned into a goblin and all I want to do is not do the writing?
I open the relevant document and go to the last paragraph I wrote and I read it. That's it.
So long as I do that, I give myself permission to then close the file and run far and fast in the other direction. Except here's what happens: I almost never do.
Because just showing up, just opening the file seems to shift eighty percent of my fear and the rest, that twenty percent of worry remaining? Well it gets distracted by that paragraph I just read because wait, didn't I want to add this to that? I should have also said this and this and that, too.
Before I know it I've tricked myself—knowing I'm tricking myself—into writing.
Look, no one writes words of genius every time they write. But what I believe successful writers do is write with passion and voice and faith that they'll make it to the end, because the writer, their readers, their editors they all want to know how it ends.
Just get the words down. All the words you have. Then polish. The deadlines will take care of themselves.
Atlin made a promise to herself early in her writing life that she'd never miss a deadline unless abducted by aliens. And even then only if there was no wifi…
Sleep Is Overrated Anyway
By Khorazir
It’s telling, I think, that I almost didn’t make the deadline for this prompt. Whether a deadline shapes up to be troublesome for me very much depends on when it falls, and what else is going on. Often, my work is insanely busy, meaning time for art or writing is scarce. But deadlines mean pressure, the more the closer they sit. Pressure means adrenaline, which can be helpful for finishing things. And sleep is overrated anyway.
How I deal with deadlines very much depends on the kind of work they impact on. In my day-job as a teacher, I am subject to a very strict and unforgiving timetable for teaching and administrative matters.
Lesson preparation, research, marking student works all make for a busy schedule, but at least for these I can choose my own timetable. My other occupation as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer also means working to deadlines. I don’t mind them. They kick my procrastinating arse. When I have a clear idea what needs to be finished when, I can plan accordingly. I often work on different projects simultaneously. It prevents art block, because if I get stuck with one, I can always do stuff for another.
Things get problematic when these plans are upset by unforeseen things, be it extra work or activities at school, family issues, you name it. But that’s just life, I guess, everybody has to cope with these. What they do, however, is curb my fandom time, because my circumstances dictate that work and non-fandom issues have priority. That said, I do try to make time for fandom things as often as I can, at least when it comes to creating fan art, somewhat less for writing fan fic because the latter requires more concentration. When I’m stressed or tired, I find it easier to draw than write something.
Because there are so many deadlines in my non-fandom life, in my fandom activities I try to have as few as possible. While I do enjoy art challenges with fixed dates such as the monthly Sherlock Challenge, Inktober, or commissions for Fandom Trumps Hate, most of the fan works I create follow my own schedule. And wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s one of the reasons I don’t participate in NaNoWriMo, or maintain a Patreon. I want to retain as much freedom as possible, particularly for my writing, which doesn’t follow any clear timetable. I write when I have time. Not writing is never a question of lack of inspiration. I’m always inspired, have a long backlist both for art yet to be drawn, and stories to be written. My main issue is time, or rather, the lack of it.
While I draw and paint quickly (most of my artworks take a few hours to finish), my writing is slow. Weeks may pass during which I barely manage to write at all.
I do continue to work on my stories in my head, meaning that once I do sit down to actually type it, many of the dialogues are fully formed. I also do a lot of research. But due to my erratic writing schedule, sometimes my poor readers have to wait years for me to finish a fic (four years for Enigma—thanks so much for all those who stuck with the story). They do get long chapters in exchange, but I could never promise to finish a fic at a particular time.
Writing, for me, doesn’t work with deadlines looming. And I’d like to keep it that way. Sorry, folks. ;)
You can find links to Khorazir's art and art prints on her Tumblr, while you can find her fan fiction on AO3.
∞
Speaking of deadlines I screwed up some Spark deadlines big time.
You write this newsletter and guess what, you can't do that if the deadline I gave is not the one I followed. *Sigh*
So after the next newsletter—You are Not $#@ Cheating—we're back to publishing these issues in order.
If you've got thoughts on why fic isn't 'cheating' talk to me! Then check out the pending newsletters and talk to me about writing setbacks, lurking, and finding your writing voice. We want that—your voice. Share it below.
