Deadlines: Dreadful or Delightful?

Earlier in the week, I finished writing the third book in my next Young Adult (YA) series, The Fairest Maidens. Usually, I write pretty steadily, giving myself a set amount to write each day. I establish that amount before I start the series, gauging what I think is reasonable with all my other responsibilities. And then I try to stick to the daily goal so I can finish the book by my personal deadline (which is usually different than my publisher’s deadline).

With this series, I went through the same process. I planned how many weeks I needed to write each book, established deadlines, gave myself a daily word count goal, and then set off on the journey of writing a fun set of new characters and plot lines.

However, as often happens, our best laid plans don’t always
work out the way we hope. My writing of the series took me into the thick of
the holidays which are always a little crazy. Then after the holidays, we
experienced a family crisis that took a lot of time and energy. Along with
that, I had to complete edits on two different books.

All that to say, my personal writing deadline for the series came and went. And I wasn’t finished. In fact, I was seriously struggling to have the time and energy to write every day.

But here’s the thing, maybe I didn’t finish exactly when I wanted to. But I finished. And that’s what deadlines do for us. They give us a reason to keep going, the motivation to finish. Without having set out goals ahead of time, determining my schedule, and actually writing it out so that it was in front of me, it would have been all too easy to let the chaos of life crowd out my writing.

Over the years I’ve realized I’ll never have completely perfect conditions for writing. There will always be other responsibilities that demand my attention (that’s just what happens when you have five kids and homeschool!). I can honestly say if I’d waited for perfect conditions to write, I never would have completed a single book. I’ve never had a quiet, child-free house or uninterrupted hours in which to work. I’ve had to learn to grab whatever time I can and make the most of it.

All that to say, one of the most important things I’ve done throughout my writing career to keep myself on task, especially with this newest YA series, is making deadlines. Yes, I already admitted I didn’t meet my deadline. But because I had that end-date stuck in my head, I made a point of finishing as close to it as possible. When I was on the homestretch, I had a writing marathon (when my husband and kids were out of the house!), and I wrote close to 10,000 words (a personal record for one day).

Was the 10,000 good writing? Or was it drivel?

Actually, I found that during the last few hours of writing,
I was so involved and invested in the story, it flowed better than ever. Yes,
it (and the whole series!) will still need extensive editing, but the story
itself is complete. And let me tell you, it’s a very good feeling to arrive at
the end. Especially when it was so difficult to reach.

Deadlines. We can dread them. Or we can delight in them and let them spur us to persevere in the task set before us.

How about YOU? How do you feel about deadlines? Are they dreadful or delightful?