When you don’t think you are going to meet that major deadline, and you are drowning in the sheer size of the task, you need to remind yourself that you can do anything!
But sometimes you need an unshiftable deadline to make it happen!
I managed to finish my fifth crime fiction novel (80,000 words) and submit it to a publishing award six hours before deadline, and I feel proud.
I wrote this novel in my spare time, around family and my business commitments, and I had to be super organised, passionate and motivated.
But I needed a deadline, not one set by me as that is easy to shift, but one that wouldn’t change.
I actually ‘finished’this book on January 1, 2017, which was the first deadline I had set for myself. However, it wasn’t actually finished, it was in very rough draft.
I then faced what seemed an insurmountable task to proofread, edit and organise the book into something that closely resembled a real book.
I stuck at it quite diligently for a while, but then life got in the way, and my scribbled on manuscript sat in a messy pile on my desk reminding me every day it wasn’t done.
Twenty-four hours before the deadline I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it, but I meet deadlines every day for my clients, so was determined to meet this deadline for myself.
If you’re a writer and struggling to finish your manuscript, remind yourself to breathe, write lists, remember to do what you love, then go for it! Because you can do anything.