Deadline Driven

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Early on in my writing life, I learned the importance of meeting a deadline. Through my writing for newspapers, I learned how to compose my stories at the typewriter and give my writing to an editor in a timely fashion. More than almost any other type of writing, newspapers have strict deadlines. At 7 am, we would have story meetings, get our assignments then deliver our writing to the city editor on or before 11 am.  The editor worked on my story, handed it to typesetting and my story rolled off the printing press at 3 pm. This simple pattern was repeated each day including the weekends. If you missed a deadline, your story did not get published. 

When I moved into the magazine world as an editor, I discovered a different deadline pattern. The deadline depended on the publication schedule but in general it was monthly deadlines. In general, book publishing has longer deadlines but they still exist. At one publisher, we had weekly schedule meetings with our spreadsheets. During these sessions, we gave updates about the authors and if they were meeting their production deadlines. If authors were late, then we had to delay or change their release date and other production details. While the author didn't realize it, his manuscript is needed within the publishing house to write the back cover copy, the words for the catalog, press release and other media materials. If the manuscript wasn’t available or comes in late, sometimes these elements are skipped or inaccurate. The author wonders how this happened but they missed their internal deadline and actually caused these errors.

During my years working with book authors, I noticed many of them (even some bestselling authors) turn in their manuscripts late. They have little or no understanding of how that late submissions affects the chain of production events for the release of their book (and could affect their sales).

Here’s a simple way for writers to standout to their editor or literary agent: always meet or beat your deadline. As an editor, I’ve heard almost every possible author excuse why they need an extension or could not meet their deadline. I understand life happens. Also I understand as a writer, you have to choose to meet the deadline. Years ago, I accepted a tight book deadline even though I had a full-time day job. To meet that deadline, I worked at my computer all night and skipped going to bed. I met that deadline, prepared for work and went into the office. It’s an example of the type of choices you might have to make to meet a deadline.

If you meet the deadlines (even the unreasonable ones), you will become someone dependable for that publishing professional.  If your manuscript is projected to be 60,000 words, then break that deadline into something manageable like 1,500 words, then add it to your writing schedule. If you are consistent writing these words then you will meet and exceed your deadline. You will become a deadline driven writer. 

Today I have a number of deadlines. I will spell them out and put different benchmarks in my phone reminders. You can use another method but this works for me. It's how I write these articles each week about The Writing Life. It’s how I contribute to other blogs and podcasts. We live in a world abundant with opportunity. Each of us have to determine which opportunities to seize and which ones to ignore.

What techniques to you use to meet your deadlines? Are you deadline driven? If not, how can you change and move in this direction? Let me know in the comments below. I look forward to learning from you. 

Tweetable:

Becoming deadline driven is a simple way for every writer to standout. This prolific author and editor gives some examples and ideas in this article.  (ClickToTweet)

My Writing In Other Places:

With these articles, I encourage you to publish your work beyond your blog in other places. Below are three articles which were published in other online locations than this blog. I haven’t added this feature for a couple of months yet I have continued to write each month on each of these websites. Find your opportunities to get your work into some other websites through guest blogging.

I wrote about the importance of follow-up for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog called Follow up After A Writing Conference.

Every writer needs persistence and I wrote about this quality for Writers on the Move in an article called Persist For The Right Fit.

Book proposal creation is one of my areas of speciality. Each month I write about proposals for Almost An Author. My latest story is Write a Standout Proposal. 

As I’ve worked in the publishing world for years, I’ve spoken with many authors about their expectations and dreams for their books. I’ve found many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help and take actions no matter what the publisher does for your book. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. Click the link to learn more details. 

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Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,800 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA