Keeping my own deadlines
Some of our work deadlines – tax submissions, domain name and website renewals – we have little say in. We just pencil them into our diaries, and deal with them as they come up. Others – manuscript completion dates, following up phone-calls – are entirely up to us, so we first have to set these work goals, and then respect them.
Setting a work goal is relatively easy, though sometimes I am a bit too optimistic with my time-frames – ‘Yes, I’ll get that finished by the end of the week’ – but respecting and keeping my own deadlines takes the business ethic to a whole new level.
Authors, by and large, work for themselves, and have no-one else hanging over their shoulders or monitoring their work-rate, telling them how to run their businesses. No-one to chivvy them along, remind… Sure, there are always lots of other things to do, and people telling us what need done – meals to cook, dogs to walk, meters to read…
But if I pencil some work into my diary – reply to so-and-so by a certain date – these days, I do my utmost to respect my earlier decision. Instead of saying, “Well, I’ll just let that go, and do it when I can,” it saves a lot of time and energy to stick with earlier decisions, galvanising me to meet any deadline, and it means that, by and large, I have more time to attend properly to things that crop up at the last minute, instead of rushing madly.
Which might feel a bit tough, and even, on occasion, a bit confusing: which ‘me’ is doing the running. Is it me the worker, me the boss, me the challenger or me the hopeless optimist? And do I have the discipline to stop and have a lunch break, take weekends off, have time with family? It’s all part of the same ethos of self-respect that takes a job seriously (but not too seriously).
And it works! Yesterday, I finished a clean draft of The Seduction of Susan Scott, the second in my fiction series of books. Having the aim to finish it by the end of August, I challenged myself – why not? – to finish it by the end of last week. And while that turned out to be a trifle ambitious, having made that decision, I have found the energy and inspiration I needed to finish, not too far off my target. For which I am thankful.
Thanks for reading!
Please share:
August 24, 2018 @ 9:43 am
Yes, I find that setting deadlines and keeping to them as nearly as possible is actually much more relaxing than having a list of things that are inexorably heading towards the panic box. Congratulations on finishing the book.
August 24, 2018 @ 10:18 am
Thank you so much!! Yes! It is a revelation to realise that setting deadlines, I find I have more energy, and Life conspires so positively (!!) to help me meet the intention.
So, on with my next novel. Do you think I’ll get a draft of it finished in time for the Book Fair? 😉
August 24, 2018 @ 4:24 pm
Great topic!
I’m trying to be better about my deadlines, Fran. It’s quite difficult to me, even with a writing coach meeting with me an hour per month. I’m constantly interrupted. Yesterday, I sent in a guest post at the witching hour, as they say (last minute). I’m a perfectionist and what seems might take a few hours, takes me all day. Anyway, thank you for your example. I always tell my friend, “I’m the new Jan Brady!”
Amy
August 24, 2018 @ 5:26 pm
Dear Amy
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for reading my posts. I hope you may find other posts of interest.
I used to be a perfectionist – and in some ways, I still am – but it becomes so much more important to me, to get through a thing to the end, determined not to let the millions of words we could choose, stop us from committing our words to each page. Good luck with all your writing! 🙂
August 28, 2018 @ 10:39 pm
Oh my. It is glorious to be retired and out from beneath the burden of other peoples’ deadlines for me! Nonetheless, I’m a deadline person–though not for everything. Just the things that really matter these days. Which are, in fact, dwindling down to a precious few. Most of them about my daily health needs and making sure I get to the doctors’ offices on time! 🙂
Oh! Your blog feed is now appearing again in my Reader! Yay!!!! I’m so relieved. My workaround was fine, but this is better, because now you’re at the top of the list! 🙂
August 29, 2018 @ 10:23 am
Thank you so much, Elouise! 🙂 You are so kind to me, and all my writings. I appreciate that. I’m retired too, in a manner of speaking, (perhaps with the emphasis on re-TIRED) from the law and also from a thousand different expectations of employee status. I take my hat off to anyone who can keep a job for years, I really do.