Find a Reading/Writing Buddy
Reading /Writing Buddies are Cool especially for Deadlines
Deadlines are a pain–they are a necessary evil, but they are also a cause for major stress. One thing that I’ve found that has helped me over the past year was to find a “buddy” who I could give my work to at a specific time. It plays on your “guilt” in that you’ve made a “promise” to someone else and when you don’t follow through, you feel bad for letting them down, so you try to stick to a goal and, even if you don’t meet the goal, you try to have “something” for them. Now, if you have a “guilty” nature and you feel inordinate pressure from owing people something or letting them down, this may not be the technique to use. Still, I find it extremely useful to actually get things done.
1st Saturday of Every Month
I try very hard (doesn’t always work with school) to get something done by the first Saturday of the month. Actually, I think that I’ve mentioned this before, but in case I haven’t, I have a couple of reader/responders at the Public Library (Chattanooga), who have agreed to read my work. So, to get things to them, I’ve tried very hard to get things to them by the first Saturday of the month.
Make It Managable
The key, I think, is to make it manageable. Realistically, it means what can you do within a month? As a graduate student and a part-time worker, my time is extremely limited. I can’t take two or three hours every day to devote to my writing (personal writing). However, if I write a little every day and take what I’ve written over the month, that usually adds up to enough material for a whole story that I can send to the people to get feedback on.
I hope this helps other writers out there who are struggling with completing material for deadlines.
Sidney
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Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 25)
