Me? I LOVE deadlines. I like knowing exactly where the Finish Line stands.
So far I've met all my contracted deadlines. Sure it's involved me wailing, "I'll NEVER finish this on time." or "This deadline is going to kill me!" but I can't imagine not meeting a deadline. That would just freak me out. (Yes, I know, there are plenty of contracted authors who have a fluid view of the due dates written in their contracts, but I'd feel too guilty to miss one.)
Someone recently asked if that means the work I do when I'm on deadline is inferior. I don't think so. I think a deadline forces me to focus and allows me to shut off all the extraneous crap that rolls around in my head. I actually think the work I do is better.
I'd rather have a deadline than not. If I don't have one, either because of a contract or because I haven't set one for myself, I tend to procrastinate. I tend to get so caught up in making each sentence "perfect" that I get next-to-nothing done.
My intention for the week is to finish the massive rewrite I'm doing based on the suggestions of my agent for my new book. I've given myself a deadline of finishing it by Friday. I'll let you know next Monday how I fared.
Tell me Killer Friends: How do YOU feel about deadlines?
I set deadlines for myself with lots of things in life. Do you? Are you succesful at meeting them?
If you're a contracted author, have you missed any? Do you love them like I do? Or do you absolutely hate them?
7 comments:
There's a saying, "work expands to fill the time allowed" Give me a week, it'll take a week. Give me a day, I'll finish it in a day. I'm with you 100%...I thrive on deadlines.
Since I'm not in the position where I have any deadlines imposed by other people, I have to say I do appreciate deadlines. If I give myself a goal date to have something done, I generally get it done - if not by the date, then within a couple days. (Like the whole December Nano thing last year.) Right now, though, even with a deadline - to have this ready to query next month - I'm floundering. Good thing I'm not under contract.
I don't love deadlines, but I think they motivate me to work smarter and to focus more. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I meet a deadline. As for anyone thinking work produced under a deadline is inferior - there are deadlines in all professions. Almost everyone I know who has a job has some type of time constraint in getting certain work done, so ubless everyone's work is inferior, I can't see how working under a deadline would imply the work is inferior.
Em -- Exactly! If I don't have one I find amazing ways to fritter away time.
B.E. -- I think having a deadline tends to lend itself to floundering, but that's okay. It means you're in motion!
Jennifer -- I think the theory was that rushing would cause someone to do less than their best, but I agree that everyone has some sort of deadline in their life.
Deadlines are a good thing. I self-impose deadlines so that I have something tangible to work towards. Otherwise I'd never get anything done.
Writers need that kick-up the ass that the stress of deadlines gives. It provides motivation.
Jai
I need deadlines. I work well with deadlines. But I absolutely hate them. I panic and stress and freak out all the way to the very last minute. Sigh.
Hopeless at deadlines, which is why I don't have any. Hero refuses to do anything I suggest. Heroine refuses to do anything with the hero unless he takes his shirt off. Hero complains about the setting, wants to go somewhere warm like Florida, when I am writing a medieval. Sometimes, I just have go close my eyes and think of England.
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