Deadlines

I think we can all agree that few things motivate you to actually open up the word doc and WORK on it as well as a deadline. Whether it's real--you have to deliver work to an editor, or even just pages to your critique group--or totally self-imposed, knowing the "must have by" date is a very effective lighter fluid for the all-important fire-under-the-ass. It gives you a clear sense of how to structure time; knowing where the finish line is lets you work backward, and parcel out your to-do list into little time-packets of however much work you need to get done, in whatever way works best for you.

I may be the only person who thinks of it that way, but then I'm totally OCD.

I realize that the "whatever way works best for you" part is open to serious interpretation, of course. My college roommate rarely started a paper more than 24 hours before it was due. She usually wound up working til some time in the very-early hours of the morning, fueled by a near-constant stream of coffee and cigarettes, but she always got it done, and from what I heard, she usually did a kickass job. She needed to be in a serious pressure-cooker situation before she could be bothered to really focus on the problem at hand.


I, on the other hand, once had a semi-hysterical breakdown when two last-minute papers were assigned in the same week I already had another due, because I couldn't give each of them the 5+ days of working on a little quote-pulling here, an outline there, maybe a paragraph or two several days out, that I preferred.

I think I've mentioned the OCD, right?

Don't worry, since then I've gotten slightly better at working within ACTUAL time constraints, if for no other reason than I've gotten better at being aware of just how much work I can output if I have no other option than cranking through it.

Which is why I (pretty much) never miss a deadline. Usually, if anything, I come in hours or even days before deadlines; I CAN work in a "drop everything and finish this now" environment if I have to, but I'm good at planning my time, and I profoundly prefer having a clear goal so that I can set clear expectations--for others, but also for myself.

Which is why I find it so difficult when other people don't make deadlines. It means all my planning has to go out the window, because some element I was waiting on is now...something I'm still waiting on.

(Thank god my current writing partner is Canadian, and therefore EMINENTLY reliable.)

Are any of you deadline-missers? Can you explain this phenomenon to me? I get the "and then the baby got sick on the same day a flood came and the only bucket broke" kinds of situations--sometimes things just come up that you couldn't have planned for. But what about you chronic deadline-missers?

Does it not make the inside of your skin itch to know that you're not meeting the expectation you set (or someone else set and you agreed you could handle?)???? No, seriously. That's not a thing other people feel?

How do you (not) do it??