Anyone set themselves the final deadline?

I don't strap myself into self inflicted threats and ultimatums. It happens or it don't.

callalily61 said:

Never give up. Never surrender.

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By Grabthar's Hammer, if I haven't sold anything by September 2008 I will return to my previous career. I'll probably keep writing for fun, though.
I like setting myself mini deadlines also. It helps me treat writing like the profession I hope it will become.

Norman Maclean was 74 when he first published A River Runs Through It. I always figured I'd have time to get it right.

I gave myself five years to sell a novel. Time's up in January, 2010.

Even if that doesn't happen, I'll probably keep writing because I've been selling short stuff all along. All of my kids will be in school by then, so if I don't start making a good part-time income, I'll probably go back to work doing something else, or forego the fiction for full-time freelancing. Or maybe I'll go to school. I guess it really depends on how much my husband is making and whether my income is needed or just a perk. All I know is that I have to be doing something productive, because hausfrau doesn't really suit me.

If I had set myself that deadline I'd have given up on writing 34 years ago.

Which, as I look at things now, might have been the best thing for everyone all around.

I don't do it, but my father insists I should do some "rotative agriculture" with my writing projects

I have another career that funds my time spent writing, so far as I see it, I just keep trying. I was tempted to set a deadline but then I thought, if I don't sell a book in a year (for example) then what? Not like I can stop writing even if I wanted to. Every time I try to set stuff aside, I get assailed by another idea.

I would like to point out that Piers Anthony gave himself a year off of work to sell something-- after years of honing his craft in other ways.

That's essentially what I'm giving myself. I quit working full time in... uh, around March of this year. We'll be moving April of next year. If I don't have an agent by then, I'll be looking for a job. Right now I have two good novels I'm shopping; by then I should have three. Honestly, if I can't sell any of them, I don't see why I should subject myself to the horrors of editing and cutting and refining my own work. I'll still write, sure, but I won't labor over it like I do now. It'll just be for my own entertainment. And yeah, I'll still try to get an agent, still try to get published. I just won't devote my entire life to it.

Yup, I think that's why I've never set myself a deadline. I didn't want to look back at it and feel like an ass. Sure, if you've quit your job to write, I suppose you need a deadline, although you'd think "when I run out of money" would work. Otherwise, I think it would be like setting a deadline for finding someone to marry.

seun said:

What made me think of this (as well as the Piers Anthony story) was an entry I found in a diary from 1992. In a horribly embarrassing and over the top teenage fashion, I swore to myself I would have a book published by my 30th birthday.

Don't think I'll be making that deadline.

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A writer I know did that. She gave herself a 6 month deadline to write and sell a novel or she would have to return to work. She wrote it in 3, sold it in 1, and now it's being made into a movie. Amazing. And she's written and published two more books since then.

She's a machine.

callalily61 said:

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Yep! But I have to add that she had a *great* idea and was one of only a handful of people who could credibly tell the story. So that helps. Still, I wish some of that drive would rub off on me.

WendyNYC said:

A writer I know did that. She gave herself a 6 month deadline to write and sell a novel or she would have to return to work. She wrote it in 3, sold it in 1, and now it's being made into a movie. Amazing. And she's written and published two more books since then.

She's a machine.

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Could you tell your friend I, uh, hate her?

No, really, she's awesome.

WendyNYC said:

A writer I know did that. She gave herself a 6 month deadline to write and sell a novel or she would have to return to work. She wrote it in 3, sold it in 1, and now it's being made into a movie. Amazing. And she's written and published two more books since then.

She's a machine.

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Umm... Wow.

As for the OP, I've never set a deadline like that. Life always seems to get messy with me and intrudes on my goals. Annoying!

I have about three days left before I have to commit seppuku.

Man, I hope my agent sells the novel I just sent her last week in the next three days.

i really haven't set deadlines. i create goals and make them happen - i guess if it's what you love to do then it shall get done!

seun said:

According to this,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_anthony#Marriage_and_early_career

Piers Anthony set himself a deadline of a year to sell a piece of work. If he hadn't succeeded, he wouldn't be a writer now.

So, has anyone done similar or at least thought about it?

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I did originally but that was just frustration talking. It takes as long as it takes and I try to be patient.
Linnea

I've never set an ultimatum like that. I've set deadlines for writing a certain amount (NaNoWri), for turnaround time after rejection letters, for completing revisions, but I'm not horribly rigid about it if I need to alter those goals.