I stayed up until after 2:00 this morning working on my stupid website. I think it's all put together but I wasn't up to dealing with my first upload to my host server while half asleep. Hopefully tonight (still have to work around my "day job").
So why the rush? Well, I set a deadline for myself of having the website up and running before I attend the Antioch Writers Workshop this Saturday. I think I had a vision of networking with writing professionals, handing out business cards with my website info on them, and having someone actually check it out. This may or may not happen, but I want to be ready.
But I'm a very deadline driven person. I saw a t-shirt once that said, "If it wasn't for deadlines, nothing would ever get done." Story of my life. This year I hit a bit of a wall with my writing; couldn't seem to make any forward progress. So I decided to enter a couple short story contests. I'd never entered one before so that was something new for me. (Just writing short stories was something new for me; I'm more of a book person.) Of course, contests have deadlines and - bingo - I started writing again. I guess this is the same technique as inviting people over so I’m forced to clean the house, which I’ve done for years.
What about you? Are you deadline driven or one of those self-disciplined people who manages to work along steadily without any sort of axe hanging over your head?
~ Linda
3 comments:
I'm probably deadline driven. Like you, my house doesn't get clean until someone is invited over! But I procrastinate so much, that I usually wait until the last minute to clean it (same with packing for a trip).
Writing is different, though. Don't know why that is. Maybe because it's relaxing to me. Maybe because it's not a chore. I have to make sure my chores are done BEFORE I write, or my chores will never get done!
Of course, I don't put "cleaning the house" on my chore list. Thus, my messy abode!
I'm definitely a deadline person but since I'm also a wait til the last minute and work like cray to meet the deadline person, deadlines don't really work too well for me with writing unless they're contest deadlines.
What does work for me is a Yahoo & Facebook group I'm in that commits to 100 words a day for 100 days. I'm somewhere up around 500 days now without missing a day. The reason it works for me is because I'd be too ashamed to admit to calling myself a writer if I couldn't find time for at least 100 words in a day.
Good luck with your writing!
I thrive both ways. If someone gives me a deadline and/or an assignment I will get it done as soon as possible and spend days editing it to perfection. If there is no deadline I will spend all my time writing whatever I want to write just for fun.
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