Timeliness is next to Godliness

I’m waiting for a painter to show up for his 8:30 appointment to get a color swatch so he can work on my house. It’s now 10:15. Getting excited won’t do me any good. Around here, we call it Carolina time. Joke: The workman said he’llbe there on Tuesday. He is, but you never know which Tuesday he means. Carolina time.

And that led me to consider timeliness in our writing lives. We all have deadlines, either from an outside publisher or of our own making. Editors, or readers, expect us to meet...