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On the 24th of every month, I experience a brief blip of panic. That’s because this column is due the 25th, and, without fail, the 24th rolls around without me having written, or even thought of, a thing. Usually (and today is no exception), other deadline projects are vying for attention. But no matter what else I’m working on, I spend the morning of the 24th convinced the Lonely Writer has finally run out of advice she can share.
Then, early in the afternoon, something occurs to me. I get out my Lonely Writer file and write that month’s title. As soon as I do, I open a new Word document and begin typing, and finish the first draft of this column in about ten minutes. Why then, I always wonder, must I have that blip of panic?
"I love deadlines, because without them I’d never get a thing accomplished." —Lenard-Cook
The answer is that the blip is my deadline alarm. I love deadlines, because without them I’d never get a thing accomplished. In fact, I’ve learned that when I’m writing something without a deadline—a new short story or novel, for example—I must create imaginary deadlines so that I’ll finish. It turns out that simply typing “finish chapter 9” on my calendar is enough to set my deadline alarm. There may not be an editor waiting (yet), but there is a recorded commitment. It matters.
I’m not alone in my need for a countdown clock. Many of my students return for more classes because they find that without weekly assignments they don’t write a thing. I also cheerfully assign arbitrary deadlines to others whose writing projects might never be finished without them, with the assurance that I’ll read what results so long as it arrives on schedule, and that it will be worth the journey. And it always is, for both me and its author.
"I don’t write every day, but man, when there’s a deadline looming, I burn up the keys." —Lenard-Cook
I know you’ve read, repeatedly and perhaps even ad nauseum, that “real” writers write every day. While many writers do write every day, I’d bet they’re not writers who need deadlines to fire them up. I don’t write every day, but man, when there’s a deadline looming, I burn up the keys. How about you? Does it take a ticking time bomb to get you typing? Join the conversation at Authorlink’s Facebook page.
PEN-short-listed author Lisa Lenard-Cook’s most recent book is The Mind of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Writer’s Digest), which originated in her columns for Authorlink. With Lynn C. Miller, she’s co-founder of ABQ Writers Co-op (abqwriterscoop.com), a creative community for New Mexico writers, and co-editor of the literary magazine Bosque. She’s on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference and the Board of Narrative Art Center in Santa Fe. Website: lisalenardcook.com
