Deadlines

"A deadline’s an unnerving thing."
- Marchette Chute, author and poet, NY Times, 1953

I have deadlines all over the place. In the day job, which is also writing based. In this pseudo part time career of mine. The milk, and the eggs that went bad in June but are still in the fridge. Deadlines all over the place!

So why then do I feel ambushed when I realize I have a story due one week from now? It's not like I didn't know the day was coming. It's not like I didn't say, "Sure, I can get it done." So why am I experiencing the panic, the feeling of being in an Edvard Munch painting or a Home Alone movie?

I think I'm a deadline junkie. I mean, of course I've been writing every day and more on the weekends, but still I've let this deadline pounce on me like crocs on a wildebeest. It really isn't any fun, especially since I'd attempted to promise myself I would get this done early. Yet here I am in the freakin' tunnel with the deadline bearing down on me like an out of control freight train.

I must be a deadline junkie. When I do laundry instead of write, you know it's bad.

My tagline on my own blog reads, "A blog a day means I'm not writing." And goodness, I have been all over the place in Blogland in the past few weeks. It hasn't been healthy, dear readers. My brain has become polluted by the drivel/wisdom/diatribes of others to the point where my story has been put on mute.

That's a bad thing. That's a bad thing indeed.

So while much of Romanceland is focused on Dallas this week, I'll be focusing on my need-to-be-done story. I think it will be a lot less stressful, honestly.

Until next time: write on, writers!