Deadlines Trump Resistance

Alanis Morissette recommends, “…biting off more than you can chew to anyone.” Apparently, I subscribe to that notion as well and I soon discovered that I have more capacity than I could conceive when driven to deliver by a looming deadline.

Here are the stats on Strangled Melody as I reviewed the folder:
Original novel 84,000 words, 455 pp
Rewrite-in-progress: 8,000 words, 44 pp

I knew the original was too long, with some extraneous characters and subplots that would hit the cutting room floor. But I still needed 60,000 words to meet the competition requirements – a target that felt like just the right ballpark after my planned clean-up and rewrite. Knowing where I stood and where I intended to end up, I realized that the only way I could complete the work was by restructuring my life to make it happen.

My game plan: no social or other distractions, all time outside my job would be spent writing or researching, and I had zero room for excuses to goof off. Fortunately, I have a very supportive spouse, who made it possible for me to do all this. I re-designed my schedule so I could write every morning from 5:30-7:00 and all evening until 10:00 or 11:00. The weekends would allow me to dive deep, digging into the characters and subplots so the finished novel would fit together in a tight package.

As I reviewed the manuscript, it became readily apparent that I could not afford to waste time. Every aspect of the editorial and writing process had to be efficient, and I needed to execute flawlessly. Much as I needed a rigorous schedule, I had to establish a set of ground rules that would prevent me from second-guessing myself and losing momentum. After a bit of intellectual gyration, I arrived at a simple principle: lay it out, clean it up or cut it and go.

I needed to establish a clear picture of the timeline of events and actions for each character, identify plot points, clues (hints dropped in along the way to help the fictional detective and readers figure out whodunit), and timing down to the last detail. Anything that didn’t drive the story had to go, holes needed to be identified and filled, and then it all had to be patched together into a cohesive whole that flowed for readers who would never know that the picture had started as a big jigsaw puzzle.

Since I tend to write in an organic way, this would be great discipline for me. I was not giving myself permission to wander off on tangents and paddle around in backwaters of color and marginal relevance, no matter how interesting or fun the writing might be. My old habits had to go; I had to take a different tack to meet the deadline.

Just Think Differently.