The Deadlines Are Working!

Would you believe it? Would you credit it? Would you look at that?

A few days ago I wrote about how I often need deadlines to propel me along motivational heights. And, well, I just took a week off work to work exclusively on my novel. And, this is the really amazing part - I worked on the damn novel!

This is not the first time I’ve ever taken a week off work to “work on my novel”. It’s not even the first week I’ve ever actually sat down and opened a laptop/MacBook/Chromebook/whatever I’m currently working on and said to myself “yes, I am a real writer. I am sitting down to work on my novel on my week off.”

But.

This may be the very first time I’ve ever actually done it.

I’d love to say this sudden surge of energy and creativity has come from some innate and deep well of writerliness, but that would be a lie so big I think the thunderstorm we just had would come back and take me out.

No, the only reason I’ve been able to work on my novel this week is because I entered a competition with the first few thousand words at the end of May.

The deal with this competition is that they will let me know if I’ve been longlisted towards the end of this month, and if I have been they’ll ask to see the whole shebang. The entire caboodle. And I’ll have all of four days to get it to them if that happens.

Here’s something else about me: I’m an ENORMOUS PEOPLE PLEASER. I have been my whole life; teacher’s pet, the kind of kid who preferred to spend time with grown ups just so I could get that warm glow when I overheard someone tell my mum how mature I was for my age. All of that.

It’s… it’s not always a good trait. Not healthy. It’s cause a shit ton of hardship, especially in my romantic relationships, and it means I can be an absolute pushover from time to time.

But when it comes to deadlines what it crucially means is: if I set them for myself and no one else is impacted, I will miss them. But, if you’re a prestigious literary competition with judges and volunteers and a Twitter account, I will bend over backwards to get you what you need.

To any literary agents or editors out there, just… sit with that for a sec. I am a delight to work with, because I don’t say no to people I work with or for. So there you go.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that in less than a week I have edited 2/3 of my novel (AND got feedback from two beta readers) and only have the final third to plough through for the next two days before I’m back at work.

It feels good.