Deadline... by Glynis M. Belec

The desk in my motel room. Oops, I think I see
Facebook on  my screen!

I have the sweetest hubby ever. Maybe he just wanted a bit of peace and quiet around the castle for a couple of days, who knows? But whatever his motivation to ship me out, I still think he is the sweetest.

"Just go!" he said [using his inside voice, of course]. Life, lately, was consumed with much. I had arranged for my lovely editor to start on my children's novel the following week, thinking my manuscript would be completed  by then, but it wasn't looking promising. Distraction after distraction entered in and I just was not able to complete it at home. I contemplated getting up early, but I already did that. I thought about staying up late. But I already did that, too.

So when my dearly beloved suggested I go to a motel with my laptop and just write...I couldn't believe my ears. He told me he was going to be having some long days, too, because he had some work to get done.  So he would be fine. I tossed it about in my noggin for a while. I remembered some other commitments that I needed to look after. But both my sister and my daughter assured me that getting away to write was a great idea and they would look after what was pressing - caring for my elderly Dad, re-scheduling students, doing some paperwork, and so on.

For a little while prior to my departure, I dealt with guilt. I had trouble getting my head around, first - paying for a motel. We could spend the money on something a lot wiser than time away for yours truly, I reasoned. Then I thought because there was a swimming pool at the motel, I would have to use it once in a while (to get my money's worth, of course). Then I would feel guilty again because my poor hubby was slaving away at his job and there I would be - lolling around the pool. But a deadline was a deadline. I told myself that a dip in the pool would be a reward. Every 1500 words I could swim. Gotta' love those deadlines.

My daughter, who works for me, booked the motel and I was committed. To tell you the truth, I was jolly excited. I could hardly wait to get away where I wouldn't have to feel obligated to do anything but write. I know lots of writers who would think I was whacko and why couldn't I do it at home - but you've got to know my home and my ability to rationalize why my work isn't as important as the demands of others. I am working on that.

To make a long story a little bit less, I came. I wrote. I went.  My room was amazing and the pool 'reward' was exhilarating. The free breakfast lasted me most of the day and I am happy to report that I managed the 4,500 words I needed to complete my book. And, I did some other writing-related chores, had some wonderful, contemplative moments with God and actually relaxed every 1500 words. I tried my best to stay off Facebook and e-mail, but the WiFi was free!

In one of my idle moments (one hour prior to checkout time on the second day) I came across the origin of the word - deadline. Don't ask me how that happened. I think I was checking something out for a grammar issue. One thing led to another and I soon learned that the word deadline referred to a line around a military prison beyond which soldiers were authorized to shoot escaping prisoners during the American Civil War. Hmm...Gotta love trivia!

Getting away was a brilliant idea. Happy Hubby gets a gold star. I met my deadline, and I am happy to report that I am now thinking that I need a special jar on my desk to save up for the next motel writing retreat...

No Title, no Subject, no Thoughts — Lawrence

I find myself, the day before my TWG Blog is due to be posted, with absolutely no thought of a topic on which to write.

Some writers, I know, find this stimulating—to come up to the hour of deadline and write their piece on the edge.

Some say they do their best work this way—under pressure—this is definitely not me! I like to be organized, know what I want to write about ahead of time, think about the topic as I go about my days, do a free-fall writing session about the topic in my journal, transpose it to my word processor, edit it and let it sit a few days several times over, until I finally feel satisfied that I’ve gone as far as I can with the topic.

No chance of doing that long drawn out process this month—for, here I am, the day before it’s due and I have no topic about which to write. There is nothing in my mind, in my heart, or under my pen about which I feel inspired to write. Absolutely nothing jumps out to grab me. So, what then will I do?

At the writers’ group I attend during the summer, we have an eight minute free-fall writing period. We take turns each week to choose the subject and it is given to us just before we begin this process. Because of the way my writing brain works (as described above), I find it quite difficult to get started. But, with only eight minutes to come up with something, one can’t waste too much time thinking about it.

I have devised a way of getting started under this pressure-filled moment at the writers’ group, by writing the word on my piece of paper and just write without thinking too much about it and, eventually, something is there on the page to read out to the group at the end of the eight minutes.

Basically, then, that is what you have today in my blog. Nothing! No title, no subject, no thoughts. It is my contention that a writer should be able to write something about any subject he is given. If, however, he has not been given any subject, what then? It is up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not I have been able to fulfil my own assertion that a writer should be able to write something about anything, even if that topic is nothing.

© Judith Lawrence 

www.judithlawrence.ca 

Newest book by Judith Lawrence, available at 

http://wipfandstock/store/Highway_of_Holiness_Soul_Journey 

P-Pep! Dashing for Deadlines - Guest blog post

“More haste, less speed.” That byword has proven very true for me. We’re more likely to make mistakes when rushing. Our fingers become thumbs and we drop things. Or we dash out of the house, jump into the car, pull out of the driveway, get half-way round the block, then realize we’ve left our driving licence. By the time we turn around, fumble for the house key, open the door, and retrieve the forgotten item, and get back to the point where we remembered we forgot, we have a net loss of time. More hurry, less progress.

Deadlines appear to accelerate the nearer they draw, finally rushing upon us, bellowing in our minds, “Ready-or-not, here I come!”– especially when we’ve a train or plane to catch. Deadlines come and go, regardless of one’s state of readiness. You know the feeling? Unreadiness catches me all too often. When I opened up last week’s Guide to check over P-Pep! I was embarrassed to see that I had some really bad sentence construction. Mistakes were overlooked in my rush to get it off to the newspaper office.
Then I thought of the Guide staff; they don’t have just one little article, but many articles, advertisements, and news reports to formulate, typeset, and arrange layout. “Ready-or-not, here I come!” yells the weekly deadline for getting the whole thing off to the printers.

Now, whether we talk in terms of a deadline coming to us, or view it as though we were approaching it, it’s relative–even a moot point–as to which of us moves. Have you ever been on one of those huge people-moving conveyor belts at an airport? Once you’re on it, even if you stand still and do nothing, you’ll eventually find yourself at the other end. Imagine if that thing could talk: “The end is a-coming, my friend, so you’d better have your luggage and passport in hand and your feet ready for action to take that final step off, or you will have an embarrassing trip when you get there!” Some people have tripped and fallen at the end of those things.

Perhaps you’ve seen cartoons portraying a bearded religious guy bearing a sandwich-board with such messages as, “The end is coming ...Prepare to meet your doom!” Now the Scripture does talk of a challenge presented to ancient Israel for them to “prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). That’s good advice for us, too. We don’t know just when life’s conveyor will pitch us off. It’s a deadline (no pun intended) that’s coming, and we are coming to it. We may back-walk a little on this conveyor of life by keeping fit, ensuring we have good nutrition, and have the best of healthcare, but the end is still a-coming.

We prepare ourselves for many things in life, but are we prepared to meet our Maker? All excuse and self-commendation will be as “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals” on that day; the beating of a worthless, hollow drum. How much better to be able to say, “Dear God and loving Heavenly Father, I thank You for the gift of Your Son, through whose sufferings, death, and resurrection You’ve granted the forgiveness of all my sins and failings. I’ve placed my trust in Him completely and continue to rest in Your mercy for my eternal welfare. Amen.”

This Gospel–the Good News–of our Lord Jesus Christ is a marvellous “Lifeline”!

Peter A. Black - Writing to Raise the Gaze

"Parables from the Pond"(Shortlisted in Word Alive Press' 2007 Contest.)
www.raisethegaze.com
Meet Nancy Newt, Francis Frog, Cecil Snake, and all of their friends.

Available from Christian Booksellers and the author. ISBN 1897373-21-X

Deadline - Wright

I’m facing a deadline. The manuscript for my devotional book, Down a Country Road, has to be off in the next day or two. By this time in the writing process, I’m so sick of the manuscript I would almost use it to light a bonfire in my back yard. Well, okay that’s a bit of hyperbole.

A book seems to take me forever to write. Years of writing: re-reading, re-writing, revising. Then sending it to a critique group. That itself takes a year and provokes another round, or twenty, of revising.

At last, it’s time to interest a publisher. That means working through the agony of a book proposal: preparing a dynamite query letter, writing outlines and summaries and market analyses, picking sample chapters and duplicating letters of recommendation. Every page must be perfect.

After picking six or ten prospects I launch my book proposal into the blizzard of pitches raining down on hapless publishers.

Then I wait and wait, and wait some more. Should I send a reminder? Should I call by phone or send an e-mail?

Finally, a reply arrives. "Send manuscript." Wow, a bite. I oblige.

More waiting until in early 2007 the treasured words are heard. "We love your book. We’d like to include it in our publishing schedule for the fall of 2008." Oh, that far off? More discussion ensues. The publisher asks for a few changes. A contract is signed. I breathe a sigh and move on to other things.

Ten months later the publisher asks me to reduce all chapters to a given word count. Instead of tearing out what little hair I have left, I set to work again, trimming 1200 word chapters to 960. Now that is tough.

Happily, in the process of this final revision, I recapture some of the passion that led me to write the book in the first place. I remind myself of lessons learned about God and his grace from butterflies and partridges, storms and spring.

Even though I have another long wait ahead until I will actually hold the book in my hands, I’m satisfied. I know I’ll have done the best I could to share with potential readers the wonder and glory of God along our country road.

Time Management - Aarsen

Me and time, we don't always see eye to eye. I tend to think of time as elastic, bendable to my will. Often, on my way out the door for an appointment, I am convinced that if I wish it, I can squeeze in a quick toss of some clothes into the washing machine, perhaps a hasty phone call and maybe scribble out a quick thank you card for my friend and still get out the door on time. Then as I am flying down the road to my appointment, I wonder why I am late. I am thankful that I live out in the country and that I have a 20 mile drive over highways to make up for time wasted. I know this is no way to live and each year one of my resolutions is to allow for enough time. It still surprises me that a procrastinator like myself has managed to meet the multitude of deadlines associated with each book. The initial deadline of delivery, the deadline of broad edits, the deadline of line edits, the deadline of galley edits, the deadline of cover copy, the deadline of the next proposal and so on and so forth. In spite of the discipline of these many deadlines, I still struggle with the relentless tick of the clock, the flip of the calendar page. I have listened to time management seminars, bought time management tools, carry a day-timer with me everywhere I go and I still have to deal with the results of procrastination. I don't suppose that will ever completely disappear out of my life. I still have a tendency to see time as my friend. It isn't. It is my enemy. And today, as I look at my day-timer I realize that my relentless optimism vis a vis time is still a struggle. I am 40 pages behind on my current project. And I don't have a twenty mile stretch of road I can speed down to make up for it. I do, however, have weekends and evenings. As long as I don't try to squeeze in too many loads of laundry, phone calls and thank you cards, I might catch up.

Turning Deadlines into Lifelines

Since publishing my latest book, I seem to have more deadlines than I did when I was writing it. Writing Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years, was the joyful and fun part of the creativity; promoting and selling the book is the work part of the process.

My deadlines include keeping my website up to date. Here I can promote my book and, in order to entice people to visit often, I change various pages to keep it current. Next, I send out review copies of my book to relevant publications and I spend time searching for appropriate magazines and newspapers; my deadline in this instance is to find at least six such publications every couple of weeks. The third deadline I have is to write for this blogspot every few weeks as scheduled, exercising my brain to think of a suitable topic on which to write and making sure that I put it on to the site on time. I also write talks for speaking engagements related to my book.

These are some of my deadlines and, indeed, they could take the life out of me if I let them. However, I prefer to see them as lifelines as they continue to put life into my book. They invite those who read my web pages or reviews to buy my book and read further about God’s love for us and the Divine gift of spiritual life.

Yes, the deadlines are work but they are cause for thanksgiving and, if I see them as such, I can name them lifelines. The word deadline reminds me of the straight line, with its accompanying monotone, on a patient’s bedside monitor that indicates the person’s death. The word lifeline reminds me of the path on which God leads me into spiritual life and light.

At this time of year, I see earth’s creatures all around me meeting their goals, and there is not a hint of death in their activities—all rush toward life. The birds have returned from their winter homes and, in the few short weeks allotted to them, they mate, build nests, lay eggs, hatch and fledge a family, bring them to maturity and prepare them to return to their southern homes. No one makes them do this; they know it has to be done and they do it whole heartedly bringing their lives to fulfillment. For the plants, it is the same thing; they push up from the winter ground as soon as the snow has gone; they bud, blossom, come to fruition and spread their seeds for next year’s cycle of life.

Deadlines suggest anxiety and force; lifelines suggest joy and responsibility. The next time I think of the things I need to get done as deadlines I will make the effort to change their name into lifelines. This will be to my benefit and to God’s glory.