IWSG Post – Deadline nightmare

IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) is a wonderful online group for writers where we can learn from each other and also share our doubts, fears and insecurities as well as support and encourage other writers. IWSG is the brainchild of our Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh. IWSG members post on the first Wednesday of every month. The IWSG website is a wonderful resource for writers.

One of my main worries is meeting deadlines. I nearly drop dead when I am faced with deadlines. For the short stories I had contributed for 3 Penguin Anthologies, I ended up writing all the 3 stories only in the last few days of the deadline.

A similar thing happens when I am given a deadline for my newspaper features. If I am given a week, then for the first four days I am busy doing other things. On day 5, I start jotting down points for the feature. Day 6 has me writing furiously. On day 7, I rewrite several times, revise, polish and click on the send button.

I have been trying to get rid of this dirty habit by getting more organized. I feel writing a rough draft on day 1, will work wonders for my writing, as then I will get more time to polish it. But, on the other hand I feel maybe with the threat of a deadline looming over my head I write better.

I feel scared whenever I think of meeting deadlines for my books. There is always this fear that I may not meet the deadline. And there is another fear: what if I don’t write a good book even if I have met the deadline?

Does anyone else face this deadline nightmare like me? Or are the other writers more organized and work in a systematic way? How do you all tackle deadlines? Please share your advice with us.

P.S. My next post will be on 21st March. 

Handling the pressure of deadlines

This is my second post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group started by Alex J. Cavanaugh. We meet on the first Wednesday of every month. Click here for the other posts.

Sometime back, I read in an author’s interview that a writer gets the maximum time to write the first book. After a contract is signed with a publisher the author is under pressure for the second book. So, the only book a writer writes without pressure is the first one. The first book also takes the longest time to get written as it’s that time the writer is trying to find his/her voice, get the story in shape, get a grip on his or her writing, get familiar with story and character arcs etc.

Working under  pressure, trying to meet  a deadline is my biggest fear. I get anxiety attacks when the word deadline is mentioned.  And I also have the bad habit of procrastinating. I keep postponing things, until I have to do it in a hurry. Whenever I am commissioned to write a story for a Penguin Anthology, though I get weeks to write the story, it’s always in the last week of the deadline I rush to write that story down with the clock ticking against me. Though I am trying to get rid of that habit, it still troubles me.

Sometimes I try to convince myself with the thought that instead of building pressure and reducing my creativity, deadlines may work in the opposite way, that under pressure I may produce the best and my fastest work. This thought cheers me up. Writers/authors all over the world work under deadlines, so why not me.

Does working under deadlines make you break out into a sweat? Do you feel capable of handling pressure of a ticking clock? Have any of you written a book for a publisher in a short span of time. I would love your advice on working under pressure, on meeting deadlines.