C is for Crunch Time - Gloria Guest

Crunch Time. Deadline. Both bring alternate feelings of dread and an adrenaline rush for me. You'd think by now, dread would have won out, and I'd have retrained myself into being a writer of discipline with marked off times and dates on my calendar, of when I'm going to dutifully write and meet my deadline in advance. But no, I continue to live in the writer's world of frenzy, where I have been known to wait until the last possible moment to whip something off and just screech past the deadline in the nick of time. 

It's always been who I am. I flourish in a deadline driven environment, like the newspapers I've written for, as both reporter and columnists. And the argument that my work would be better if I did it sooner, is not always or even usually, correct for me. The stress of the deadline seems to bring out my best writing.  I once wrote an award winning story in high school, the night before it was due. That is how I've always seemed to write my best; last  minute, by the seat of my pants and with a looming deadline hanging over my head. I said, 'usually,' not always. Sometimes I bomb. But one of the reasons that I think this way works for me, is that while I may 'look' like I'm writing nothing (which technically I am) all those days and weeks leading up to the deadline, I'm actually forming it all in my head. I then sit down and let it spill out on to the page. 

But I'm not saying that I think this is best for everyone or that there aren't times that sticking to this sort of haphazard writing routine always brings out the best results for me, when talking about other areas of writing. For instance, although I don't recall ever missing a deadline at the newspapers, I have missed other deadlines; such as for this blog or for a contest. Usually they were missed for extenuating last minute circumstances, and so I knew that if I had instead written them earlier, which goes so completely against my writer's nature, that I wouldn't have missed it. So this has caused me to reflect on some of the ways I can perhaps make smaller changes or shifts, without messing too much with my seeming need of an ever inching closer deadline to inspire me.

A few ideas for myself and any other Crunch Time Writers out there:

-When we do feel in the right head space to write, even if it's just for a few minutes, sit down and write, even just a few lines. This way some of those thoughts swimming around in our heads won't get lost. It happens. And it's maddening.

-Write down the deadline in bold print somewhere we will see it often. That way it will 'loom' in front of us daily (hourly even) and possibly motivate us to start writing, just a little bit sooner. It'll also keep us from forgetting.

-Try setting an earlier version of the deadline. Trick our brains. That will ensure that last minute emergencies won't leave us, and editors or publishers, hanging. And us hanging our heads in shame.

-Ask a friend/co-writer to be an accountability partner who will check in with us and gently nudge us with a question of how our writing is coming with that approaching deadline. And don't bite their heads off for asking.

-A must for me seems to be to be a part of a writing course or group or some other outside stimulation, that requires me to meet a writing deadline regularly. Even if I have a lot of extra time, without that outside support, I languish in my head for far too long. That's where the dread comes in.

I truly do admire all of the writers who are so much more disciplined than I am. I think it's proved out that they get a lot more writing accomplished than I do.

But alas, I'm still a Crunch Time writer....this blog is being written the day before it's due, a little earlier than usually actually! So there's hope. I can make some shifts here and there and maybe, just maybe, I won't miss that next contest or blog deadline.

Happy Crunch Time (with a few shift changes) to my fellow deadline loving writers!

Gloria Guest writes from the little hamlet of Caron, Sk., where she lives with her husband Reg (when he's not on the road driving semi) and cat, Tigger.  She is a mother of two sons and five grand-children, whom she considers her greatest joy. Her genres include memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. She is a previously published newspaper reporter of thousands of articles and a past newspaper columnist, with hopes to take up writing a column again sometime soon. She has a few other published pieces, some in Inscribe anthologies and she has studied editing at both the U of T and Simon Fraser.