Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Deadline by Betty Gordon

Deadline is a feared word by many writers, but I’m one of those mavericks who welcomes the battle of reaching the finish line. The pressures involved in tying up loose ends before a certain date stimulate my imagination and trigger excitement. I can’t deny there’s tension involved in reaching the end of a tale, but my eagerness to write ‘The End’ on the last page far outweighs the self-imposed stress involved in arriving at the final destination.

Life plays out in segments of deadlines in various ways: a sales promotion must be adhered to by a certain date, one has to get their child’s college entrance papers in by a certain date, etc., etc. So, why should writing be any different? I work in blocks of short-term and long-term goals and I’m constantly making myself reach a deadline of one sort or another. That’s not to say, however, that life doesn’t get in the way oftentimes and I have to work around the obstacles and set new deadlines. Nevertheless, self-imposed or not, a deadline is a good thing—at least for me.

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Learn more about Betty Gordon and her books at http://www.bettygordon.com/

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. The publisher of my last release gave me a deadline to have my "polished" ms in to them by and I never did so much good work in such a short time as when that happened. I like a challenge. Ya got more spring in your step when you are faced with a challenge.

Charlotte Phillips said...

I hate deadlines imposed by others. I overcome that problem by giving myself early deadlines. Weird, I know. But it works for me.