The Importance of Getting Started Early to Meet Deadlines

 

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February is such a short month. This was the thought I had at the start of the month. Yes, February may seem like a regular month to some people, but a month can go by fast, which is what this month did.

 

And this is why I started on my February deadlines early.

 

I have an article due at the end of every month, and I have found that if I start working on this article at the beginning of the month, and work on it as often as possible during the month, I will have it ready to submit by month’s end.

 

Recently, I had one month to write an article for Able News. Instead of thinking “Oh, I have time,” I got started on that article ASAP! (That article required interviewing people, so it’s a good thing that it didn’t need to be rushed.)

 

The point is that the shortness of February served as a good reminder to get started on meeting deadlines as early as possible. Instead of thinking “I have a whole month to write that, I have time,” it’s a good idea to get started with writing that thing you have a deadline for as soon as you are able to. Don’t wait your time out. Spend that time doing something proactive in order to meet your deadline. Draft an outline, do some research, start prewriting your piece. Start thinking about your writing project so that you will be thinking about it here and there as the days pass.

 

One other deadline that I have is for a book. Because I would like this book to release in December, the publisher I am submitting it to let me know what month I need to get it to them. Before I received this news, I was hard at work revising this manuscript. When I shared the method I am using to have the manuscript ready in time, the person I shared this with said, “Wow.” He asked why I was doing so much work on it each day and I explained that this method will ensure that I am able to meet the deadline to submit it. It’s a method that works just fine for me, and it’s one I’m glad I started using early because it’s just the right process to meet that deadline.

 

With a gig I had recently (and will have again soon), my deadline to turn in my work was every Monday by 10AM my time. I’d spend the week working on the new assignments I had lined up for me and turn them in on the following Monday. I would wake up early on that Monday (which I started to refer to as “Deadline Day”) and start getting my work sent in first thing. I made it the first task on my list every Monday morning so that I could meet that deadline. (Sometimes, I went without my morning coffee in order to do this!) This practice ensured that I got my work turned in on time every Monday (and so that I could get paid on that same day!). I didn’t sit around and relax on those mornings, thinking, “Eh, I have all the time in the world to meet my deadline.” I really didn’t. So I made it a priority to do that FIRST every time Deadline Day rolled around.

 

If you have a deadline, don’t wait to get started working on it. Start doing what you can to meet that deadline right now, no matter how little that effort may be. Any effort you make to start meeting your deadline will get you on the path toward meeting it, and it is a positive step in the right direction. The time you have available to meet your deadline will allow you the extra time you need in case there are any detours you run into along the way. The best part about starting work on your deadlines early? You just might get your work done early, and have some extra time to make any changes or corrections before your own Deadline Day.

No Routines This Week – and That’s Okay!

 

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I try to stick to the same writing routine every week: Work on my books, do things for the press (which includes reading submissions), work on the newsletter, work on my book reviews, and spend time writing something, as well as revising and editing whatever currently needs revising and editing. In between all this, I’m also responding to emails and doing anything needed for self-publishing that can’t wait for the weekend.

 

But this particular week was different. While I was able to work on a couple of books this week (only two, alas!), I mostly focused on the things that I HAD to get done this week. If there’s something I need to have done by a particular date, then I put as much focus on this thing as I can. Since I work on many different things every day, in addition to the books, I don’t spend my whole day working on just that thing. I DO spend more of my time working on it, but not all of my time.

 

And that’s what happened this week. I have an article due next week, plus the newsletter to send out, so I spent some time working on the article and wrapping up gathering things to include in the newsletter. But I also had to finish a book review by the 20^th, since that is the last day to post a review on my book review blog so that I can include it in the SPARREW Newsletter (this is true for every month except for October and December, when I try to post a review of a holiday-themed book on those holidays). The 20^th of every month is the cut-off date for gathering material to include in the newsletter, and that includes reviews that are posted on my book review blog (with an exception for those two other dates).  

 

The problem is that I got so caught up on the same routine I had in place for the week that it was hard to accept a week that was a little bit different. (My weekends are free days. No schedules and no routines.) Change is always hard for me. I know that change is good and that it’s okay if one week is different from the last, but it can be difficult for me to just go with it. I need plenty of time to adjust to the idea of change and prepare myself for it. I like my routines and I like the way I have everything organized so that I can accomplish my goals.

 

But sometimes, there are other goals that I need to accomplish too – such as meeting a deadline and sending out my newsletter. And while I try to give myself as much time as possible to work on both of those things, the week of that deadline or sending the newsletter out is when I REALLY need to focus on it and make sure both of those things are taken care of. I hyperfixate on them to the point where I forget about everything else that I normally do – such as revising a short story for an anthology deadline.

 

Which meant that, this week, I was really focused on getting that book review done. And I’ll be doing the same thing next week to make sure I get that article done and ready to submit in time, along with publishing the newsletter online.

 

My hyperfixation on getting things done sort of clashes with my need to stick to my routine, though. As much as I kept telling myself that this is only temporary and I can go back to my regular routine soon, it was hard to accept. I kept looking at those two pages of the week in my planner and feeling like I could have done more.

 

Oh, sure I could have – if I never slept. But even writers have to sleep.

 

Yes, I’ll get back to my regular schedule after my deadlines are met. The month is almost over and that means making sure I meet that article deadline AND get the SPARREW Newsletter out. And once those things are taken care of, I’ll go right back to my writing routines. I just need to remind myself that it’s okay if there are times – weeks, even – when I am not following those routines, because there’s something else that is more important at that time.

Hurry Up and Wait

 

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I never really appreciated the expression “hurry up and wait” until I tackled an article deadline I had this week.

 

Usually, if I have a deadline for an article, I will get started working on it as soon as possible. This is true even if I have a whole month to turn it in. (When I wrote for newspapers, I normally had a week to write and submit my articles, so I pretty much got used to this schedule.) I will start gathering information, interviewing people if this is required, doing research, outlining my piece, pre-writing the article and basically doing everything required in order to create a final draft as I move closer to the deadline.

 

With the article I had due this week, however, things did not move as quickly as I wanted them to. I already had all of my information and interviews were done. I just needed to take everything I had for the article and put them into the actual article.

 

There was one problem, though. And it was a problem that, while many writers are happy to have, this writer struggled with: Information overload. My editor wanted an article of 600 words. I had thousands of words in the interviews conducted for this article. Thankfully, when I ended up reslanting my article (which I had to do based on the content of the interviews), I did not need to use too much of the material from my research.

 

The interviews, however, were important for the article, and there was a lot of content in those interviews.

 

As it was, I ended up taking a portion of the content from those interviews and asking my editor if it could be used as a sidebar.

 

But actually writing the article? That took some time. I was basically overwhelmed by all the material gleaned from the interviews and I had to figure out how I was going to break it all down into an article of less than one thousand words.

 

Still, after a check-in from my editor, I knew I would HAVE to get past that mental block I was having from the information overload and GET TO WORK.

 

So I worked on it here and there, taking it a little at a time.

 

This seemed to be the right approach, because I found that the more I worked on putting together this article, taking the writing of it in bits and pieces, the easier it was for me to get past that sense of overwhelm and focus on taking from those interviews exactly what I needed for this article. I figured that what I didn’t use for this article could be used in another article should I choose to pursue writing a different article on the same topic (with the interviewees’ agreement to have their quotes published in a certain publication). Or at least I have those quotes on hand should I ever need to use them for a related piece in the future.

 

Thankfully, I was able to complete the writing of my article with a satisfactory word count.

 

But I wasn’t ready to tackle editing and revising it just yet.

 

Even though I was having a good day that I wanted to share about on social media – FINALLY getting through that mental block to get that article written and FINALLY finding a home for a short story I spent almost six years submitting to various publications – I wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. Why? Because there was a lapse between “finishing my article” and “submitting my article.”

 

One would think that after writing something that has a deadline, with an editor waiting in the wings, a writer would IMMEDIATELY finalize the piece and send it off, right?

 

Nope. Not me. That’s not how I work.

 

Sure, in my journalism days, I would write an article, give it a quick edit, then turn it in on the same day, but not anymore.

 

These days, I need to let a piece rest before I submit it.

 

So, basically, I had to hurry up and finish writing my article, then I had to wait before submitting it. I had to get into a different headspace before I could put my editing cap on and look at the article with a more analytical eye.

 

So, after I finished writing the article, I went on to do some other things. I checked emails, read a bunch of stuff online, got caught up on my socials, and spent some time reading an ebook I’m reviewing. I had let my editor know that I would get the article to her before the day was out, so I had some time.

 

And when I came back to the article later, after focusing my attention on other activities, I was able to edit and revise it to my satisfaction. It might not be to my editor’s satisfaction, but I felt it was good to go. THEN I submitted it.

 

I know it might appear to be counterproductive to let a piece sit for a while after writing it when it is due that same day (or even yesterday!), but in order to edit and revise successfully, a writer needs to come back to that piece with fresh eyes.

 

Of course, some editing can be done right after the writer finishes writing something, but if the writer REALLY wants that piece to be edited effectively, it’s a good idea to wait a while before tackling the editing so that it would be done with a renewed sense of focus.

 

So, when it comes to completing an assignment on the same day that it is due, a good approach is this: Hurry up and (write it then) wait (to edit it).