Different Kinds of Deadlines

 

Writers have (and dread) deadlines. For writers with different kinds of work on their hands, it can mean different kinds of deadlines.

 

Ever since I decided to make freelance writing more of a hobby than something to earn money from (though I am grateful I still earn money from freelance writing), my deadlines have changed. Gone are the pre-set deadlines of article assignments, articles to write for clients and articles to turn in by a pre-set deadline an editor wants me to meet.

 

These days, I have my own deadlines, and they are all different.

 

Freelance writing may be a hobby for me these days, but I certainly don’t treat it like one! I treat it like a job. Old habits, I suppose. Monday through Friday, I am at the desk and working at it, but instead of pitching articles on a variety of topics or, for the niche writers, on a topic I can write well about, I am submitting essays, short stories, poetry and, lately, micros (very short writing ranging from 50-500 words). I do still write articles, but mainly on topics I am already published in and I know I can write well about. And I usually only pitch or submit articles when I come across a call for articles on something I know I can contribute to.  

 

On that note, I’m always looking for opportunities to submit to magazines, websites and anthologies. These usually have deadlines, and if it’s something I feel I can contribute towards, then I work on doing by that deadline. For example, one magazine will stop accepting submissions for a particular issue on July 31^st, so if I want to contribute, I make a note of this deadline in my planner. Writing the deadlines into my planner helps a lot so I can plan ahead and start getting to work on writing/revising/editing and finalizing my submission so it will be ready in time. Plus, it gives me the chance to plan my week and know what work I should focus on.

 

Sometimes, though, one of the many markets newsletters I am subscribed to might show up in my inbox, with a list of markets with deadlines ending soon. For example, on Monday, I received a newsletter containing markets that had July 31^st deadlines. I made a list of the markets I could submit something to and got busy submitting!

 

There are also deadlines I have which are related to my newsletter. The week I publish the newsletter is “newsletter week,” in which I spend all week putting together everything I will be including in the issue that will go out that weekend. I set deadlines on when I need all interviews and photos turned in. I also have a deadline on when I stop gathering content for the newsletter and start putting it all together. Plus, I have the deadline on when the newsletter must be ready to send out.

 

Then there are the books I write. If I’m doing NaNoWriMo, it goes without saying that the novel I’m writing must be complete by November 30^th. If I’m writing a book attached to a certain holiday, I’ll have a deadline on when to finish writing that book. If I have some free time to work on another book outside of the free ebooks project, then I set a deadline on when to finish writing the first draft. For the free ebooks, my deadline to have the manuscript ready to publish is usually the 25^th of the month.

 

Having these deadlines has definitely been more flexible for me. They also keep me busy, because there’s usually always something I am working on in order to meet a deadline.

 

While every writer cannot have deadlines like these in their writing life, I have found these kinds of deadlines to be less of a stress because they are far in advance. I also usually know what to work on next because of them. And I just like having self-imposed deadlines to get my writing submitted or turned in by, because I would really like to be a part of a publication or a type of anthology. By meeting that deadline and having my work considered, at least I am trying to make that happen.

 

Why should I write this book?

Some time ago, I seriously considered ditching a nonfiction WIP. I haven't done so yet, but I have come very close to it. I thought about ditching it, or even handing it over to another nonfiction author to take on, because I started to doubt myself as an author. I started to doubt how this book would be perceived. What if people looked at the very meager success I have achieved as an author, see this new book by me – and its title! – and think it’s not worth their time? What if the book doesn’t get the attention it deserves? (It’s a reference book for authors.) What if people see MY name as the author and think the book sucks?

What if, what if, what if.

For a long time, I tackled with these doubts. I really struggled with them. They made me seriously consider stopping work on this book and just letting it collect dust on the hard drive. I believed every single doubt I had and actually thought I was not the right person to write this book.

And it didn’t help that one of my publishers wasn’t interested in it!

But then I realized something that has made me change my mind: This book is NEEDED. There is book other book like this on the market and that makes it unique. This book has good information in it because I know it would be useful to at least one author out there. And, this book should be written, because the material in the book WORKS! I can stand behind everything in this book because I have “been there, done that” with all the info it has in it.

So, because the info in this book actually works and has been put to the test, I really feel that it should be written and it should have a chance for publication. I really feel, now, that I shouldn’t give up on it.

I came to this realization after reading the Q&A section in Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s newsletter, Sharing with Writers. It was the January 22^nd issue and you can check it out here. In the piece titled “Making Our Goals Personal Resolutions,” Carolyn encourages people to read books by different authors to see what kind of ideas they have to share. Mostly, she suggests writers who have “been around for a while” because their “advice can be trusted.”

That’s when I realized: Hey, I’m a writer who has been around for a while! I have been an author for over 10 years and I’ve stayed as involved and active in the author community, as well as writing and publishing, as was possible. (There were two writing communities I had to leave because I no longer felt that I was welcome.) And the info in this book I am writing is solid, because it’s been tested and proven to work. So it must count as “trusted advice.” I think so, anyway.

The book could still mean something to somebody out there. Some unpublished writer out there or some author out there who hasn’t thought these ideas yet. I know there are a lot of people who have very low opinions of me and I'm not exactly a bestselling or multimillion dollar earning author people would go crazy over, but I believe that the book should stand on its own merit for what kind of information it contains and not by who wrote it. I have to believe this to be so, anyway.

So having reached this conclusion, I will resume work on this book. I will write it to the end and send it off for publication. I believe in this book, even if nobody else does. And I only hope that is good enough for the book to have some kind of importance to somebody who might actually find the information in it useful.