Respecting deadlines

Yasia · Dec 9, 2018

(Soooo, I really hope that this is the right place to post)

So here’s the thing, I have a problem: deadlines.
I think it’s a common but it is beginning to bother me, like a lot, especially when it comes to my writing.

So this post is mainly for those people that like me are struggling, with even self imposed deadlines, and obviously for those that found a solution. Please, I beg you, share the secret.

I’ll begin with my experience, a really recent one.
I have a short story that I’m writing on wattpad and I decided that my post day would be friday… I ALWAYS posted on saturday. Now, I decided that maybe I was too busy and couldn’t post on friday, so I postponed to saturday. Guess what? Yep, it’s sunday and I still have to post. The situation is marbles.
And let’s not talk about my actual main book, that is the lost cause of lost causes.

I understand that procrastination can be a good but, right now, I just get depressed every time I fail.

So share your misery and maybe give some advice, I will totally stalk the answers to this post.

Elenitsa · Dec 9, 2018

I guess writing discipline is the answer. Also, realistic expectations. When you have too much on your plate, you have to revise your schedule and prioritize what's more important. But once the schedule done by you, stick to it!

Undercover · Dec 9, 2018

I remind myself every day that I feel better when I write. Even if it's just a little bit. If you can't do the 1k words a day, do 500 instead. Or instead of one month to finish, give yourself two. But try not to keep changing it. If you stay around your deadline, it's okay, IMO. As long as your around or near it. For me, if this doesn't happen, I feel so much worse. The longer it goes, the worse I feel. Again, so I remind myself that I need to perform some kind of writing to keep moving forward. I hate HATE when I stall or stop. But sometimes you just have to. I usually try to pin point the reason I am procrastinating. If I have some kind of writers block, like I'm not sure where I want to go with the story, I stop. Because if I don't feel it 100%, I'm not writing it. And there's definitely a reason for my hesitation. And so I realize there's something wrong there and if I try to force it out, it won't come out like I originally planned.

If that happens, I move on to other projects. But if it really bothers me enough, I'll go back. I started a WIP last year and stopped at 10K and didn't pick it back up until a year later. I kept telling myself I wanted to go back, but I never made the time. I was revising other novels at the time too. I promised myself, as the months went by, I would try on the anniversary of when I stopped in the first place. So a year later, I'm doing it again. It was super hard to even open the document. But when I got the ball rolling, it turned out great.

I think if you make a good habit of writing helps a great deal. Again, like Elenitsa said, it's about discipline too. As far as posting things and procrastinating about that too, I always think there's some valid reason for it even if I don't really know what that reason is. I just go with my gut and if I feel like it's not a good idea, I don't do it. Maybe it's not ready, I don't know. But when you're posting online or Wattpad or anywhere else, I need to feel (again) 100% certain it's a good idea.

owlion · Dec 9, 2018

Sometimes deadlines can end up causing subconscious stress that leads to a reluctance to go back to whatever you're working on, so maybe instead of a deadline (unless you really need one), you could try a minimum word count per day to work towards. If you write more than that, that's good, and if you set it at a reasonable number, you shouldn't end up not being able to meet it. Meeting goals consistently is reassuring and will likely make it feel easier to keep going.

BethS · Dec 9, 2018

Yasia said:
I understand that procrastination can be a good but, right now, I just get depressed every time I fail.

So share your misery and maybe give some advice, I will totally stalk the answers to this post.

I don't know if you're familiar with James Clear, but he's a motivational speaker and writer with lots of very useful and down-to-earth advice on many topics, including procrastination. I went to his site and did a search for "procrastination," which produced a list of articles that you might find helpful.

indianroads · Dec 9, 2018

I worked for decades at Silicon Valley startups as a Design Engineer - deadlines and schedules were a way of life. I've been retired for 14 years now, and yet I still push myself, notably in my writing. With schedules there are goals and stretch-goals; I push to attain stretch-goals, but if I fail then my fall back position is the goal.

For example: the stretch-goal for my WIP was to have it complete by the end of the year. I'll be close, but probably won't make it - and my fall back position is for completion in mid-February, which should be no problem.

The OP's stretch-goal was Friday, but the realistic goal was Saturday. Forgive yourself - you pushed, and there was value in that and you grew as a writer. I suggest that OP continues to set stretch-goals - unless we push against the edge of our abilities we'll never get anywhere.

On the other hand - there is a saying within engineering circles:
We never have time to do it right, but we always find time to do it over.

Just food for thought.

Toto Too · Dec 9, 2018

As someone who's been a stickler for deadlines my entire life, here's what I've learned about them: They're made to be broken. Seriously. Think about it. We tend to set deadlines that we think are achievable, given a lot of assumptions: the work will go the way we expect, and no outside obstacles will get in our way. That's a recipe for failure. So to counter it, we set deadlines further out and give ourselves some slack. Do you know what slack is? Room for other things that have tighter deadlines to encroach onto our new looser deadline.

The optimal situation is to set a tight deadline for yourself, and do everything you can to hit it, while at the same time knowing it's totally fine if you don't. Which is counter-intuitive, and our brains just aren't wired to do that. But we can try

I just try to do a little a day even if I don't feel like it. It sounds trite to say that it adds up, but it really does.

maggiee19 · Dec 9, 2018

Undercover:

The same thing happened to me. On May 2018, I was looking for unfinished manuscripts to work on rather than starting a new one, and I came across this manuscript that had 21,000 words that I had last worked on, on Mar. 2014. I started working on it, and by the end of May, it had 80,000 words. Yesterday, I added 6,000 words. Yep. It happens.

Krimigen · Dec 9, 2018

owlion said:
Sometimes deadlines can end up causing subconscious stress that leads to a reluctance to go back to whatever you're working on, so maybe instead of a deadline (unless you really need one), you could try a minimum word count per day to work towards. If you write more than that, that's good, and if you set it at a reasonable number, you shouldn't end up not being able to meet it. Meeting goals consistently is reassuring and will likely make it feel easier to keep going.

This is how I've started operating. I found that self-imposed deadlines are basically setting myself up for failure, so I stick with the consistent forward motion thing. I give myself a minimum per day that's so small, it's easier and mentally less stressful to do it than to skip. Like, at least ten minutes or so. And yep, I usually end up going far over that once I get the ball rolling.

As for outside deadlines... well, I hit them on time, but it's never pretty. I'll be following this thread for advice on that.

Scythian · Dec 9, 2018

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

Douglas Adams

VeryBigBeard · Dec 10, 2018

I too love that Adams quote but there do come times where you need to meet a deadline. It's a professionalism thing.

indianroads said:
I worked for decades at Silicon Valley startups as a Design Engineer - deadlines and schedules were a way of life. I've been retired for 14 years now, and yet I still push myself, notably in my writing. With schedules there are goals and stretch-goals; I push to attain stretch-goals, but if I fail then my fall back position is the goal.

This is a very smart strategy.

The other thing you can supplement it with is being more prudent when first setting the goal and deadline. Don't just pick a day! Instead, know roughly how long it takes you to write a story for Wattpad, or finish a book. For example, it tends to take me four months to do a draft of a book. For a whole host of reasons, I think I should be capable of doing it faster than this, and I have tried sprinting before, but nope, always ends up being four months. If I set--or agree to--a deadline that's shorter than that for a revision, I know I'm going to have to compensate by spending way more time on it. (Usually when you push, it takes twice as much effort for the same output--so if I, say, write four hours a day and have to do a draft in two months, I'd better be shifting to at least eight hours a day during that stretch.)

The benefit of doing this is that you start dealing in tangible, measurable goals, which can help give you some distance from it so you're not beating yourself up every time you miss a goal. It happens, anyway. I have never known a coding team, for instance, that finished a task in the time it estimated it would. Try to build a cushion into a deadline--so if you want to post a story on Saturday, the deadline in Thursday, recognizing you might need two extra days. If Thursday's unrealistic, it's time to re-evaluate whether you can actually post by Thursday, because delays will always happen.

I picked a lot of this stuff up doing start-ups, too, because you have to. It's a survival skill. Not saying you should just go out and found an app or something, but there are classes in project management you might find helpful. I did not go into those start-ups expecting to get much out of it for my writing, but the management tools have actually been really useful.

eqb · Dec 10, 2018

VeryBigBeard said:
I have never known a coding team, for instance, that finished a task in the time it estimated it would. Try to build a cushion into a deadline--so if you want to post a story on Saturday, the deadline in Thursday, recognizing you might need two extra days. If Thursday's unrealistic, it's time to re-evaluate whether you can actually post by Thursday, because delays will always happen.

This. I have 35+ years in software development, and the rule of thumb is: make your estimate, then multiply by 3.

That's not always possible in publishing. If you miss the deadline for edits, or copyedits, your book might miss other deadlines down the road, which might lead to a delay in the release date. At the same time, it's better to let your publisher know that you can't rewrite the entire book in ten days.

Yasia · Dec 10, 2018

Wow, thank you everyone for the contribution.

Elenitsa - so I guess I’ll have to say that I don’t have the best history with realistic expectation, I’m working on it. Sticking to a schedule done by me is also a BIG work in progress, I just hate listening to myself and my own advice sometimes. The point is that if I make the deadline too easy I feel like I’m not doing enough, even just because I haven’t respected my previous ones, so I tend to set myself up for too much. I think I’m trying to overcompensate.

Undercover - Your first sentence is so true. I feel better when I write as well, I just tend to forget it and then wonder why I’m so angsty. About everything else I don’t feel like I can at this time of my life, as much as I sometimes want, abandon my current project. It’s just so “important” for me to do it but I also feel pressure at every step I take.
(Well… that sounded quiet self important…)
Anyway, passing to the wattpad project. That one is mainly about me having to write regularly and put something out there, as bad as it may be. I think it’s also to alleviate the pressure that I feel with the main project. I guess the thought process is “Oh well, you kind of sucked on that one so now yes, you can do something better.” It just annoys me being always late. It’s demoralising.

owlion - That is really good advice! The thing is that I have two problems with that: 1. I think that like that I would just keep going for another 10 years with this book and I don’t really want to. I would just continue to edit and add stuff if I didn't have a deadline. 2. I already gave a date to a beta reader for when the first draft would be finished.

BethS - thank you so much, I’m always in search for a new motivational speaker to follow XD

indianroads - You know what? I’ll try it, it seems like something that could work for me.

Toto Too - ...“a stickler for deadlines my entire life” … sorry, I just got lost for a moment in thinking how that would feel. And, just to let you know, I know what slack is and I give myself way too much. XD
Anyway thank you for the advice, now I guess I just have to go and reprogram my brain.

No matter how trite that sounds, thanks for saying that again, it’s something that I do need to internalise.

maggiee19 - Good for you!

Krimigen - yeah, outside deadlines are never pretty for me either. In the past sometimes the situation got almost ridiculous.

Scythian - That’s a good one. Mine stomp by.

rwm4768 · Dec 10, 2018

I'd like to help here, but I'm terrible with self-imposed deadlines. I was supposed to publish the final book of my series at the end of July. I still have a decent chunk of editing left to do.

EvilPenguin · Dec 11, 2018

rwm4768 said:
I'd like to help here, but I'm terrible with self-imposed deadlines. I was supposed to publish the final book of my series at the end of July. I still have a decent chunk of editing left to do.

I would like to second this lol. I have tried to make self-imposed deadlines, but I have never followed through with them. What I have learned is that I'm great at meeting deadlines at my day job, where I get paid to make said deadlines, but I know I don't have a guaranteed income from the books I'm writing, and I tend to slack of when it comes to deadlines. These days, I tell myself that I have to at least do some kind of work on my books every single day, whether I just write a 100 words, or do some brainstorming or research, at least it's progress.

Although, I really like the idea of setting a deadline and then multiplying the time by 3. I think my biggest problem with my own deadlines is that I think I'll be able to write at a certain speed throughout the entire process, which I know from experience never happens. I always start off really strong, and can write the first 10-20k in a couple of weeks, which makes me think I can finish an entire novel in 2-3 months, but I always run out of steam and it takes me longer and longer to get through the rest of the book. Maybe I'll try the x3 technique with my next book and see how that works out.

vicky271 · Dec 14, 2018

Creating a list of stuff that you'd like to stick to, and figuring out what can help you impose those restrictions. Stuff like writing environments, noise control, etc. Do you find yourself letting go when you're writing at home? Do you get more done at a library or a coffee shop? If there is a lot of noise in the area and you bring headphones and put on music to control what kind of noise you're exposed to, does it help? Do you work better on an empty or full stomach? If you write a checklist of stuff you'd like to accomplish, do you find ticking those boxes helps? What other dedications and obligations do you have going on for yourself right now? If you took a phone or ipod with you and jotted notes, does that help?

I use word count. I sit down and think "Okay. I'd like to write 500 words" and when I get to those 500 words I think, "Okay, let's try another 500" and so on and so forth until I have to leave and go to work, go to my obligation, etc.

frimble3 · Dec 14, 2018

OP, how about setting an easier deadline, with the expectation that after that post is written, the goal is to also prep for next week? At least the premise and an outline. Then, if you get time later, before you start the next 'official deadline' post, you finish this one. So, for emergencies, you are always have one post in the bag.

The trick is not to declare a emergency too often, and create a little file of a few 'spares'.

cool pop · Dec 14, 2018

OP, you said procrastination can be good? :Huh:

Not sure I agree. If someone continues to procrastinate it can get so bad they don't write anything or never get anything done. We all procrastinate at times. Lord knows I've been doing it with this book I am working on but finally at the finish line. Just a few more scenes to go unless Madam Procrastination rears her ugly head again. I can't let that happen! :e2salute:

Had to kick my booty in gear many times. Sometimes we get comfortable procrastinating and start to accept it. That's not good. If you accept procrastination then you will keep doing it. Discipline is the key and I am glad that when I find myself slipping into Procrastinationville that I always end up feeling guilty that I'm not writing. That guilt is what kicks me in the butt and gets me moving again.

No, no procrastinating is not good. It's a mixture of laziness and fear. We know we gotta write something but for (usually those two reasons) we keep making excuses why we don't need to be writing. Procrastination is the enemy of every writer but we gotta learn how to combat it.

Gotta be tough on yourself to get moving again. :e2bike2:

The more excuses we give, the more we'll sit around and do nothing.

April Swanson · Dec 18, 2018

indianroads said:
I worked for decades at Silicon Valley startups as a Design Engineer - deadlines and schedules were a way of life. I've been retired for 14 years now, and yet I still push myself, notably in my writing. With schedules there are goals and stretch-goals; I push to attain stretch-goals, but if I fail then my fall back position is the goal.

For example: the stretch-goal for my WIP was to have it complete by the end of the year. I'll be close, but probably won't make it - and my fall back position is for completion in mid-February, which should be no problem.

The OP's stretch-goal was Friday, but the realistic goal was Saturday. Forgive yourself - you pushed, and there was value in that and you grew as a writer. I suggest that OP continues to set stretch-goals - unless we push against the edge of our abilities we'll never get anywhere.

On the other hand - there is a saying within engineering circles:
We never have time to do it right, but we always find time to do it over.

Just food for thought.

I struggle too with deadlines and this approach sounds genius. Thanks so much for sharing

Lolly12 · Dec 20, 2018

Krimigen said:
This is how I've started operating. I found that self-imposed deadlines are basically setting myself up for failure, so I stick with the consistent forward motion thing. I give myself a minimum per day that's so small, it's easier and mentally less stressful to do it than to skip. Like, at least ten minutes or so. And yep, I usually end up going far over that once I get the ball rolling.

As for outside deadlines... well, I hit them on time, but it's never pretty. I'll be following this thread for advice on that.

That's what I do, keep the expectations low. Keeps me going and is less intimidating. I admire people who can churn out thousands of words a day but if I do 1000 I'm patting myself on the back bigtime.

Layla Nahar · Dec 20, 2018

I've dealt with self-imposed deadlines by getting rid of them. Or, I can put it another way. How can I set a deadline without an honest assessment of my capabilities. So I'm doing whatever I'm doing as I want to, as I feel like it. So how do you get anything done, you may ask? My response there is, if I don't want to do something, why would I impose a deadline on myself to do it?

Respecting deadlines

Yasia

Elenitsa

writing as Marina Costa

Undercover

I got it covered

owlion

Absorbing inspiration from the moon

BethS

indianroads

Wherever I go, there I am.

Toto Too

maggiee19

Krimigen

Scythian

VeryBigBeard

Preparing for winter

eqb

I write novels

Yasia

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

EvilPenguin

vicky271

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty

April Swanson

Happy Beeps

Lolly12

Layla Nahar

Seashell Seller