| Lo, I'm a bad blogger and I have sinned...I posted late because I got caught up writing an outline. But that's good, in a way, because it leads into a serious post for once. About deadlines. What a word. Deadlines. Grim. Final. Vaguely British. All professional authors cope with deadlines differently, but the one thing they add to the process, other than the fear of God/your editor, is pressure. Pressure is like Kryptonite for the creative process, at least for me. I freeze up and I feel mechanical, like I'm just putting words down for the sake of words and not really saying anything. I could type weasel weasel weasel over and over until I got to 84,000 words. So how to deal with the pressure? I have to lie to myself, in little bits and pieces, over the drafting process. It's about you, not the outline you turned in. Your creative genius will triumph over your manuscript due date. Your editor will totally give you that third extension. Also, I overeat, watch terrible movies to decompress my brain after a day of writing five thousand words, and stop talking to real flesh-and-blood people. Some day, I'll find a better way to deal, but not today. If I could just get a week's extension, I'm sure we can work something out... How do you-all deal with deadline stress? |
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I stop eating, stop sleeping. I just went through a hellish one myself. But hey I lost 7 pounds in the process. Seriously I just drink water and diet coke ..
I don't get many deadlines, not being a pro like y'all (but soon, very soon *fingers crossed*). But the few I get at work I tend to become a single-minded prick and plow through them. I'm usually laugh--minute so when I get into serious mode people tend to get the picture.
Deadlines accelerate me, so I'm no help.
I sit around and read great books, watch great DVD's and go out with friends and then spend the evening before the deadline finishing what I should have done in 3 weeks in 3 hours! ;)