Why Writing Deadlines May Be (Almost) As Good As Money
December 30, 2009 by John Hewitt
Article by Karen Zara
As much as we all like and/or need money, getting paid may not be enough to keep a writer motivated. Deadlines often are just as important. Although some of us fear — or even hate — them, the truth is that without them many of us simply wouldn’t write anything. And you can count me among those many.
My Story
I devote the entirety of my writing time to non-fiction pieces. However, I am and will always be a fiction writer at heart. I do like writing non-fiction, but fiction is my dearest passion. You might ask why I devote my time to non-fiction then. Some of you probably think that it’s just because it’s easier to earn a living from it. But that’s not the case. Of course non-fiction writing helps me pay the bills, but I could certainly save some time for my novels and short stories. The main reason why I don’t do it is lack of pressure.
When I have to write an article for a client, I am supposed to meet a deadline; otherwise I will lose money — and credibility, which is even worse. When I want to continue a novel or start a new short story, there’s no one telling me that I should get everything done within 48 hours. What type of writing do you think I will prioritize?
Blogging For Money… and Deadlines
I don’t see why a writer wouldn’t want to have a blog nowadays. It’s so easy to use blogs to showcase your talent and display samples to potential clients, that you’d be really missing a lot if you didn’t make use of those powerful tools.
Nonetheless, when you keep your own blog you may end up neglecting updates. On the other hand, when you’re hired to update someone else’s blog, you will have to sit down and write those posts. And your boss will certainly have told you which days of the week you should never skip. No excuses will be tolerated. You won’t be able to wait until you find the perfect blogging idea.
Using Deadlines to Strengthen Your Writing Career
Would you like to speed up your dwindling writing career? Do not waste your time telling yourself that someday you will query that magazine’s editor or pitch a guest post to that famous blogger. “Someday” is just too vague. What you may need is to put some pressure on yourself. And the first step is to search not only for money or fame, but also for tight deadlines.
Let’s see if that would work for you.
Just for a few months, forget about your beautiful writing dreams. Try to be more practical. Visit a good writing job board — you’ll find one right here at PoeWar — and don’t pay too much attention to the highest pay rates (I know that’s really hard to do, but…). Instead, apply for jobs that demand a fast turnaround. The faster, the better. Bonus if the topic you’ll have to write about requires some research.
The idea here is to be bold. Of course, you should never exaggerate. Don’t apply for a job if you feel that it’s really beyond your forces and ability. But don’t be too nice to yourself either. You must get used to challenging yourself and writing as quickly as possible, without sacrificing your piece’s quality. At the end of the process, you will have a happy client, some money in your pocket and renewed motivation to move your writing career forward. Now rinse and repeat.
Put your limits to the test, get those tough jobs done and see how good it feels when you realize that you can be a productive writer — and get paid for it.
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Karen Zara is a writer who dislikes working under pressure but does it all the same, because she knows it is good for her. What happens when she doesn’t have an approaching deadline to meet? She tries to update her blog Abaminds, which you are kindly invited to visit.
Related links
- How to Overcome a Fear of Making Requests (0.825)
- The Realities of a Freelance Writing Career (0.825)
- How to Treat Your Writing Like a Business (0.742)
- How to subsidize your freelance writing career with a (shudder) JOB (0.742)
- Are you ready to move to a full-time freelance writing career? (0.742)
Contact John Hewitt
Writing Content and Web Consulting
Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
LinkedIn: poewar
Twitter: @poewar
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Karen,
I like your advice to be bold. Working on projects with short deadlines will certainly help build your writing muscles. You can then start applying this principle to your fiction work: make yourself the client and give yourself deadlines.
Karen,
I agree that deadlines can be a tremendous help. I participated in National Novel Writing Month for the first time in November and the challenge of meeting the deadline really pushed me past my fears of trying my hand at fiction. I like the part where you say, “But don’t be too nice to yourself either.” Sometimes it is very hard to push ourselves out of our safe zones, but when we do the rewards can be wonderful.
Nice job!
Thank you for your comment, Lillie.
I’ve tried to give myself deadlines to write fiction, but I’ve failed miserably. Well, maybe my inner client wasn’t as tough as she was supposed to be. I’m going to tell her to be more cruel next time. 
Morgan, it seems you were typing your comment just while I was typing my response to Lillie.
First time I participated in NaNoWriMo, I won. It was a fantastic experience. However, since then I tried again and again and again, but didn’t succeed anymore. Yet I want to try once again this year, because I need to resume my fiction writing activities and I still believe that NaNo’s can work for me.
I’m glad that you liked the part about not being too nice to yourself. I guess I’ve been being too nice to myself when it comes to writing fiction. One more reason to participate in NaNoWriMo.
Thank you for commenting.
Karen Zaras last blog post..Create Fresh Content By Recycling Your Promises
Karen, I feel like you wrote this post just for me. I tend to honor deadlines above all else so, unless someone is expecting something from me by a certain date, it ain’t gonna happen. It could be a story, an essay, a quilt, a sweater for toddler … if I don’t have a deadline, a “do or die” date, then the object doesn’t materialize (and believe me, knitting for kids is a race against time
I just recently completed a two-and-a-half year mentorship for my fiction writing, and I do feel anxious about whether my production will grind to a halt without a “mail by” date hanging over my head. What I’m thinking about doing–and what you may want to try–is to set deadlines for my fiction writing according to contest deadlines. For example, Narrative magazine currently has a fiction contest that closes July 31 (might have to check on that). I set myself the goal of having a story ready to submit by July 31. Whether I actually submit it is not the point; it’s that I created a real deadline to spur myself to write.
It seems to be part of my nature that deadlines have to come from someone or something else, whether it be a contest deadline or the fact that my great-nephew will outgrow the sweater I’m knitting if I don’t finish it NOW. Like you, I fail miserably when I try to set my own deadlines.
Thanks for posting!
Marie
Karen,
Great piece! Fascinating angle, too! It’s so true that deadlines can help keep us writers “honest”! And this is precisely why, so often, the projects that are nearest and dearest to our hearts perpetually sit on the back burner waiting for us to find the time, energy, and motivation to work on and hopefully complete them.
As much as we need to search for writing jobs with challenging deadlines to keep us moving forward (a fantastic idea!), we may also need to establish self-imposed deadlines for our own pet projects — the ones we really want to complete but never manage to get around to because we’re too busy meeting someone else’s deadline. That would be one way to place them into the mix of written works for which we actually get paid.
Developing the deadline-meeting habit can definitely help. After we’ve sought out and successfully met enough tight deadlines, doing so becomes almost second-nature–which makes it much easier. And that could really be a godsend when we hope to transfer that deadline-consciousness to our own personal writing projects a little farther down the line.
Enjoyed your post!
Jeanne
This is a great way of looking at it, Karen. I also like the challenge of writing prompts or following certain themes. I find, like you, that if I have a wide-open theme (or loose deadline), it’s much more difficult for me to corral all my thoughts. I think Marie Ann mentioned being attuned to deadlines for submissions or writing competitions and just producing something for that intention, whether you actually submit it or not (after all, you can almost always recycle it!). I keep a notebook where I list upcoming deadlines as well as one listing all my submissions and their “results,” too. I find that this low-tech method keeps me from forgetting submission deadlines.
@ Marie: I loved your suggestion! You’re right: by participating in contests I could get to write more fiction, since I’d have to meet the contests’ deadlines. Thank you very much for the tip!
@ Jeanne: Thank you for your kind words on my article. I’m so flattered! *blushes*
Self-imposed deadlines still don’t work for me (I’m very much like Marie: need deadlines imposed by someone or something else), but I haven’t given up yet. I do believe that sooner or later I’ll manage to finish my pet projects — and even find the time and motvation to start new ones.
@ Leigh: Just like you, I use low-tech methods to keep track of my writing activities. I also use some online resources, but for some obscure reason I find notebooks more effective.
I’m very much into writing prompts as well. I even have a blog on the subject.
Thank you for your comment!
Karen Zaras last blog post..Create Fresh Content By Recycling Your Promises
[...] whether and what you write, and, of course, that (ideally) translates into making money. Click here to read her full [...]
One of the best lessons that I learned from being a newspaper reporter was how to write on a tight deadline. I also learned how to go the extra mile to get a story, but that’s another story.
Karen,
You deserve those “kind words”! Your article is a very helpful one.
Self-imposed deadlines can definitely be tough–and sometimes virtually impossible–to stick to. That’s why all writers must figure out what works for them and do whatever it takes to jump-start their writing projects.
Jeanne
Why Writing Deadlines May Be (Almost) As Good As Money…
Money may not always be enough to make writers finish their articles or blog posts. In such cases, tight deadlines can help a lot….
You are spot on Karen! If it wasn’t for the deadlines. a lazy guy like wouldn’t get half as much done as I do now.
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Having a deadline sure tighten my mind to write like no tomorrow! Is a good mindset
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It is good having deadlines, because then you work harder and more diligently on your projects since you know you have to get it completed. On the other hand, some don’t work as well under pressure so they have to make sure they aren’t putting things off and doing things last minute when deadlines are a factor.
Deadlines are crucial for a successful writer, painter, businessman or anybody else. In my opinion it is part of human nature. There are only 2 reasons we usually do things the first is because we want to (these kind of things are rare), and the second reason in because we have to (read “deadlines”), and unforetunately most of things fall under the umbrella of the latter.
I think deadlines are the antidote to perfectionism.
If you are able to force yourself to complete something to meet the deadline it’s also very satisfying to close an envelope and feel relaxed that you got there.
If you still want to be perfectionist you can come back to it later.
Most people write blog for money?
I didn’t agree it,They just write it for themselves.
To realise your potential in anything you have to be disciplined, organised and work to deadlines. Otherwise you become complacent. I try and set myself deadlines on a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes hourly basis.
Karen,
I really liked your article as it really speaks to me. I personally hate writing to deadlines but I have come to accept it as a part of life. As the old saying goes time is money. When I have to write for a client I always try to finish the piece well ahead of the deadline. I am a perfectionist and this really helps me as it gives me extra time to do all the tinkering before I am truly happy with the piece and by that time I normally have to submit it.
Karen,
I totally believe in deadlines. I am a contest junkie and contests always have deadlines to meet. An open-ended committment gives writers too much wiggle room. What’s the Murphy’s Law on this? “Work expands to fill the time allowed.”
I’ve coined a phrase: Deadlines are lifelines. You’ve proven my point.
I spent 10 years in the Air Force as a linguist. I always waited until the day before reports were do to begin working on them. I found that the adrenaline allowed me to be more creative. Reports written close to deadlines were always handed back with little or no corrections.
Trey Andersons last blog post..Hacking The Shirt Haxxor
I agree deadlines are definately a good thing
Thanks for sharing useful tips, very helpful. I have very rarely worked on impending deadlines and have never really worked under that kind of pressure myself or even if I have, I have never felt the pressure myself…
“As much as we all like and/or need money, getting paid may not be enough to keep a writer motivated.” This is a very true statement. I know that people like to make money but sometimes that’s not enough to make the work. I notice that people work faster under pressure or a deadline. I really enjoyed the article. Thanks!
I like it. Stumbled.
Obviously this is a way to overcome procrastination. I certainly can relate to this.
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Deadlines is a really good thing!
That is the entire reason why I gave up being a article machine – because there were no deadlines to keep me in line. But do I really want to be a machine???
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