To celebrate our 5-year anniversary in a few months, my boyfriend Craig and I are traveling to French Polynesia. Yesterday was a very badass-feeling day of scheduling. Flights booked – kapow! Hotel booked – kapow!
And amidst all that, somehow I ended up with a deadline for completing my book’s revisions. Extra-kapow!
How that happened is Craig mentioned the trip would not only be a great celebration of our anniversary, but also of his venture into self-employment (which is starting around the same time), and my finishing of my book. I reminded him that it’s only the first draft I finished, so by the time we travel several months will have elapsed. Not really a timely celebration.
But then I thought… Ooooh… What if I finish all my revising and rewriting by then? THAT will be cause for celebrating.
I didn’t think I did well with deadlines, but this might be just the kick in the pants I need. I’ve been procrastinating my revisions, picking at only a few easy things, because the hefty stuff is very intimidating. Every time my book looks at me I quickly turn away and whistle and pretend I didn’t see it.
But having this concrete deadline with a very lovely reward might be exactly what I need to stop dithering about. For the past month I’ve been all “I’m not ready, it’s too scary, I’ll edit later, later…” But now I have some good motivation.
It definitely won’t be polished and submission-ready by then. But the fine tuning can come after our trip – my main concern is the bulky work. Adding scenes, the plot fixes… That’s the hard stuff. If I can get that completed, I will feel damn proud of myself.
It’s officially a plan. And I start… today! KAPOW!!
‘I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.’ – Douglas Adams
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Haha, that’s one of my favorite quotes. I don’t like deadlines imposed on me by others, but when I put them on myself it’s because I want the challenge.
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Good luck with that!
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Thanks, I’m gonna try my damndest!
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Great idea, and good luck! Editing – especially the big scary kind – can be intimidating and invigorating at the same time, I think. =]
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Thanks Erika! It’s definitely intimidating, but so was writing the dang thing, so if I could survive that then I can survive this! Having a solid goal helps a lot.
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Yeah, I’ve found deadlines helpful when I’m revising. There’s something compelling about writing a first draft – I NEED to finish – and that helps me get it done. But I have to be more creative about finding ways to get myself to revise . . .
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There’s not nearly enough Kapow-ing around these days – you are a shining example to us all. I intend to kapow the shit out of Wednesday 😉
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Go you! Hi-YAH!
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Do it! When it looks at you, stare it down! Ultimately these books are just big scaredy cats. They must be subdued. I’ve been working on my edits too. Nearly there… I must consider setting a deadline…
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Hahaha, I like your attitude! 😀 How long do you think you have left on your edits?
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I think… not long. I’ve got a few more smallish things to fix and then I’ll do another read through, make sure I didn’t miss anything. Shouldn’t take more than a week. Then, I plan to send it out to round two of beta readers!
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Nice! Must feel good being so close to the end 🙂
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Yes, it is. It’s been a long long process. You will feel great on that trip when yours is finished too! 🙂
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I was JUST thinking about that, how nice it’ll feel to have that all out of the way by trip time! That’s helping my motivation a lot.
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CAN I BUY YOUR GODDAMN BOOK YET
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Haha if you want the messy version with parts scribbled out and the metaphorical equivalent of bubblegum stuck to its pages, then sure! Right now I’d say it’s worth about… 4 pennies and a paper clip.
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KAPOW! That’s awesome 🙂
Good luck to you! And wow, French Polynesia! That sounds fantastic!
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Thanks! I’m very excited, both about the trip and finishing this dang book already 😛
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Reblogged this on Jessica Marie Baumgartner and commented:
Deadlines are scary but necessary. You’ve got this
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