Then I have the antidote for you.
No. I don't or if I did I can't remember because I'm tired etc...
But I am going to get going on the last haul of my revision. Have a gift day for a couple of reasons. OK - one - I took it! And although I got almost zero sleep last night (thank you Hoagy!) I am going to go at it. It isn't like I have to make anything up or use my imagination - I am just taking edits off my hard copy and putting them on my computer. As long as I don't hit another chapter that I mysteriously wrote entirely in the present tense (!) I should be OK.
Made-up deadline for getting this revision done and sent to readers - Sunday at noon!
Made-up deadline for getting polish done on The Rock Walker and off to the Tartlette and a couple others - next Sunday at noon.
Do you make up deadlines and if you do - do they work?
How do you get through that final polish without giving up?
Here is one of my favourite trigrams in the I Ching - 64
BEFORE COMPLETION. Success.
But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing,
Gets his tail in the water,
There is nothing that would further.
The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility. It is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order. But it is a task that promises success, because there is a goal that can unite the forces now tending in different directions. At first, however, one must move warily, like an old fox walking over ice. The caution of a fox walking over ice is proverbial in China. His ears are constantly alert to the cracking of the ice, as he carefully and circumspectly searches out the safest spots. A young fox who as yet has not acquired this caution goes ahead boldly, and it may happen that he falls in and gets his tail wet when he is almost across the water. Then of course his effort has been all in vain. Accordingly, in times "before completion," deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success.
How's about you?
6 comments:
You know, I always was bad with deadlines. But when I did my first drafts I set a deadline and it worked, I did the work. So I like deadlines a little more these days!
Alex
Breakfast Every Hour
Alex - I just did about 80 pages - yeehaw - taking a short break and will keep going. I'm tired but I'm still managing to stay focus. If I have enough done by 2 I'm going to nap - yes, nap! Just like a little old lady. I don't know that I LIKE deadlines but man oh man I do need them.
Jen- you're right - fortunately once I get going I don't seem to treat them any differently.
I need deadlines in order to get anything done. Of course, real world deadlines garner far more respect than the self-imposed ones. *sigh*
When I give myself deadlines, I keep them. I'm just not always good and giving them...
Deadlines are a great thing to keep you moving. Just don't be too hard on yourself if one gets missed - at least some progress is made.
Glad to see in your comments that you're trucking along - hope you got in that nap. ;)
or a deadline to work it can't be mine. It has to be a reader, a group or the like. Always the outside force.
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