Deadlines; August 22 2020

This has been a weird week for me. My ex took my daughter for a few days, giving me time to crack down on some work. I planned on doing nothing but writing – sure, I could fit in a few errands here and there, and I had an appointment with ASH Photography to get my new author photo done (expect that in a few weeks! So excited), but overall, I would just be writing. Right?

Well, not so much. Turns out, there are a lot of errands to take care of when you’ve been putting them off to take care of your child. I didn’t even wind up completing everything I set out to do.

This stressed me out at first. I have a deadline for completing book #2 of the Qistedei series, KAV, and the idea of failing to meet it keeps me up at night. Re-evaluating, though, I realized I was being silly. I have tried and true tactics for meeting deadlines, and I thought I’d share them with you!

1. Chart your progress!

I like to use NaNoWriMo’s stats page for this. If you don’t have an account, I would highly encourage getting one – there are no fees or anything, it exists purely as a motivational tool, with annual writing events designed to keep you writing every day.

Using this site, I like to ‘create new project’, input my start and end date, and my estimated word count. I aim higher than lower, if I can. This’ll create a graph for you to see your progress, and more importantly, the site will tell you the minimum word count you need to meet for the day in order to stay on course.

2. Write every day, on anything handy!

This one’s tough! How am I supposed to have a moment to think with my laptop on-hand and attend to my very demanding two-year-old boss?

The answer is: my phone. I primarily write using LibreOffice on my laptop, but whenever I finish a writing session, I back up what I’ve done on Google Docs. It’s a safety thing, because that ensures that my work exists somewhere even if something happened to my laptop, but it also gives me the ability to write using the Google Docs app on my phone.

If you’re like me, you text a lot slower than you type, so it can be frustrating and take some getting used to. However, doing this makes it so much easier to commit to writing every day, even if it’s like, 50 words.

And that’s all you need to shoot for! If you use method #1 and get a word count goal, that’s great to keep in mind, but don’t beat yourself up if you fall short sometimes. The NaNoWriMo word count calculator will adjust itself and give you your new minimum word count, to make up for missed days.

3. Don’t wait for inspiration.

I don’t feel like writing, sometimes. Half the time, even. I feel unmotivated, uninspired, and just don’t have the energy. Pressing through those feelings to get some of the story down anyway is a challenge, but one you can meet with dedication. I do it by bargaining with myself; ‘Okay, I just won’t meet my word count quota today, but I’ll write two sentences.”

If I’m lucky, that little push will crack open the floodgates. I’ll want to contextualize those two sentences before I forget what’s on my mind for line #3. If not, then hey, I still got two sentences.

4. Be honest.

Sometimes, we overestimate what we can do, or we make an estimate and don’t account for life throwing things in your path. I initially told my publisher that I could complete KAV by September, which would have been difficult but doable. However, I didn’t factor in life complications. I had to be honest with myself, and with my publisher: I’d need to extend that deadline.

It’s hard, doing that. It’s also necessary for my health. Which leads me to my final point:

5. Don’t forget self-care!

Congratulate yourself for your progress! Don’t forget to sleep! Work with a cup of tea or glass of water on hand! Whatever works to maintain your sanity (or however much sanity you have) – if you burn out or make yourself sick, you’re not gonna meet that deadline.

Obviously, this is just what works for me, and I don’t know how well these strategies might work for, say, someone with ADHD. Still, I hope y’all find some of it helpful!

What are your strategies for meeting deadlines?