April 11, 2010 | Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment
Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: Deadline
Deadline.
That’s a word we writers use a lot.
Most of us don’t like it. *raises hand*
The rest of us think it’s easy-peasy. *sticks out tongue and blows raspberry* Yeah. That’s how I feel about those people.
Whether you’re a self-pubbed writer–*raises hand again*–or a traditional writer, we’re all besieged by deadlines. As a self-pubbed author, however, you’re pretty much accountable for setting and meeting your own deadlines. There’s no one there hovering behind you (well, unless you’re part of an accountability group) or send you little reminders that it’s coming up or you’re way past it.
For the longest time, I was on the fence about going traditional. I would wobble back and forth so much, you’d think I was Humpty Dumpty. My first two books are self-pubbed and I was thinking about going traditional for the DA series. I’ve since decided to stick with the self-pubbed route and one of the reasons is deadlines.
Seriously.
That may sound lame to some, but not to me. And I’ll tell you why.
I know my limitations as a writer. I write slow and my Creative Mojo doesn’t work on a consistent basis. And by that, I mean one day I can make page goal and the next, I’m struggling to pull words from my noggin. A deadline dictated by someone else reminds me of those timed essays we had to take in English. I hated those. I can feel myself getting stressed out by just writing that.
I like writing under my own time, my own steam, not someone else’s. I like the idea of writing at my own pace and not having to worry about rushing. Because at that point, the writing feels forced. And when it feels forced, it’s no longer fun. It becomes a “have to” not a “want to.”
As a self-pubbed author, I do set deadlines for myself. They may be farther out than other writers, but again, I know me. And the only person accountable for those deadlines is me.
I’m not part of an accountability group.
I don’t have a crit partner.
And I’m not part of a crit group.
Like Beyonce says, it’s “me, myself and I”.
And for now, that works for me.
Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Humpty Dumpty, Beyonce
adesi says:
ahhh you set your own deadlines and that is the way to go
but sometimes deadlines just appear naturally no?
Deadline – Decline
Celise says:
Adesi – “sometimes deadlines just appear naturally..” so true.