Skip to main content

The Deadline Dance

Have you ever blown past a deadline? I have...but never one for a client.  It's always one I've made for myself. I have missed a very important self-imposed deadline. I committed to doing a book review on the first of every month. That is one of the biggest challenges I find being a freelance writer. Sure, it’s easy to make deadlines that are set by paying clients, but keeping a commitment to yourself is much more difficult. But, I remind myself, now I have not only let me down but my friends and followers as well. And that’s tough to take. So…my apologies! I can only offer to you that, where the book reviews are concerned, I will only do a review on a book I have read from cover to cover so my review is honest and complete. On the first of this month, I looked at my night table and the desk in my office and there were many books marked at various pages but not one was close enough to being finished to make me comfortable enough to do a formal “review.”

A Mini Review
There is one that I have started into that I will at least give a nod to and then do a proper review another time. The title is Words that Work – It’s not What you say, it’s What People Hear by Dr. Frank Luntz. I am really enjoying his irreverent tone and the stories he tells of his time writing for very high profile politicians and Fortune 500 companies. They really make you stop and say hmmmm. Even as I was just finishing the first chapter I knew that this would be one of those books I won’t loan out or give away. I started underlining on page two of the introduction. But, I will wait until I’ve finished to give you my final impressions.

Deadline Doesn’t have to be a Dirty Word
So, I’m now beating myself up over missing my May 1 book review deadline and because I haven’t blogged since April 24th. That was also around the time that I finally learned how to set up an email subscription to my blog. I apologise to anyone who signed up last month and has heard not a word from me since. My friend Susan the Coach took up Wordpress’ “blog a day” challenge and has been having a ball so she has re-energized me to get back on track (she is a coach, afterall, so her blogs even help procrastinators stick to deadlines among other great work/life advice).

I’ll be scheduling my blogging from now on and will treat is just as seriously as my client projects because I do believe that you are equally as important. I won’t be doing it every day but will be scheduling it for at least once a week.

My new mantra
Embrace the Deadline…Embrace the Deadline!



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adverbs & Cliches in a Nutshell - Guest Post by Jessica Bell

Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you. by Jessica Bell Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don’t tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace! Yada yada yada ... it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It’s hard enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them there. In Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird , she says that in order not to be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, t

Virtual Book Tour for The Healing Begins April 23

As we approach launch day for Lynda Faye Schmidt's novel, The Healing , a women's fiction/family drama based on the author's life, we're excited to announce the blog tour schedule and introduce you to the bloggers and book reviewers who have joined the tour. The tour begins on launch day, April 23rd. Take a look, follow these bloggers and make sure you visit on the tour dates indicated (check back regularly for updates): Pre-Tour - March 2 - Thrive Global - pre-launch announcement  April 16 - Fit for Joy - pre-launch podcast interview with Lynda April 23 - IndieView - author Q&A with Lynda April 24 -  Canadian Bookworm  - featuring a guest blog by Lynda, "What Inspired Me" April 26 - Dartmouth Book Exchange - author spotlight April 29 - Storybook Reviews - review May 4 -  Help Me Sara  - podcast interview May 13 -  My Question Life  - review and author interview June 30 - Reader's Favorite - review  As new bloggers come on board we will update our

The Author-Preneur – Are you Ready for it? Book review: APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

“Starting your book is only the first five miles of a twenty-six mile marathon that’s one-third of a triathlon.” APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur If you’re a self-published author or are contemplating taking the plunge (for whatever reason), be prepared for the demand of being an ‘Author-Preneur.’ Actually, it’s not a bad idea to do it even if you’re traditionally published. Start switching your mind-set from, ‘I’ve got to sit down and get a chapter done today’ to ‘I’ve got to sit down and write a chapter today AND post a tweet about my progress, share a sneak preview on Facebook, take that tutorial on how to convert to ebooks, and review the cover design proposals that are sitting in my in-box.’ There are plenty of books, blogs, websites, newsletters and videos out there on how to do it all... some helpful and others not so much. One that I would highly recommend is Guy Kawasaki’s and Shawn Welch’s APE: Author, Publisher,Entrepreneur . It takes you through the entire