Loving Your Deadlines
By Rusty LaGrange, High Desert Branch
Scheduling is a necessity for busy people. But I will admit that I allow stuff to get in the way, priorities to blow my plans out of the water, and have trouble saying “no” when I’m approaching an urgent deadline – like The Inkslinger and The Bulletin.
The easiest management of time for me is knowing how much time I do need for a regular task. Regular tasks that have a longer time element can be easier to work with because you’ve had experience with the time you’re managing. My office at home is littered with everything I need. Items close at hand make my work station cozy. Then I look around and realize I have buried my latest project – somewhere.
So, managing my desk becomes a higher priority than working on a project. I will schedule my own clean-up time before I hit the keyboard. Another task for newsletters is to “strip” the issue. In journalism jargon that means I delete everything I don’t need for the next issue. I keep the skeleton pages formatted and begin filling in the new articles and elements that will become the new issue. I hit the shore running with a list of submissions ready to plug in. Thanx to you.
I know I need about 10-15 hours of “paste-up” time. It’s when the doctor’s appointments and family requests take over that I attempt to juggle my work schedule. My daily “work hours” can get cut and jumbled, yet I know I have a looming deadline to meet. My deadlines become your deadlines. I don’t break my own rules because I can’t. If I do, all schedules float on the tide – never to be seen again. A quick phone call to say, “I’m on deadline” is usually enough to let folks know I can’t go out and play today.
How do you manage your time? Do you use the latest “daily planners” or a smart phone app or a desk full of sticky notes? I use all three plus a calendar on the wall so my husband knows when to leave me alone.
What about new projects with no track record? I recommend giving yourself two hours of uninterrupted time: no outside calls, no TV distractions or multi-tasking. This first focus time will help you control a fresh idea and build up your research prior to writing. And remember, the writing is the least time you need. Your brain is happily writing in the background while you’re reading and researching. It loves the challenge put before it. That’s one task you don’t need to think about.
My brain is wired for deadlines. That’s the way I roll. I may complain but I never look at deadlines like the light at the end of the tunnel. I need to “love” my deadlines because it’s a promise of completion, permission to move on, and anticipation of the next “great American novel” – or something as lofty.
Right now, I need to finish this submission for The Inkslinger – I’m on deadline.
Rusty LaGrange is editor of the CWC Bulletin
as well as the High Desert Branch newsletter, The Inkslinger.
This article first appeared in Inkslinger March 2017.