“I want to have my book done by late July,” a prospective writing coach client recently told me.
How many chapters do you figure will be in your book?” I ask.
“Twelve.”
“That means you’ll be cranking out a chapter every other week, assuming the editing can happen in August,” I say. “Do you have the time to research and write a chapter every 14 days?”
Silence.
He’s not the first aspiring writer who has neglected to do this simple math.
Setting a deadline for yourself is a great idea. That’s a great way to push yourself when your drive starts to lag, which on a big project it most assuredly will at some point. But you want to make sure that you can actually make that deadline. Otherwise, when you finally realize that you’re trying to achieve the impossible, setting that unrealistic deadline will backfire.
I couldn’t agree more, and this was my direct experience with my non-fiction book. If it wasn’t for the deadline from my publisher – as well as a consequence for missing the deadline – then my book would not have been finished.
You made me laugh. Thanks for that.
Yes, deadlines can be a writer’s best friend or worst enemy. I personally hate deadline pressure. So I do my very best to jump on projects as soon as I get them and to finish them well ahead of the actual deadlines. One added bonus: not leaving things to the last moment means I can take on more work should that materialize.