The Power of a Deadline by Kathryn Scherer

 

How are you with deadlines?

👉Are they a necessary evil, something that you’d rather live without, but accept are part of a writing life?

👉Are they the only thing that drives you to complete a piece of work? Or even start it!

👉Or do they fill you with anxiety and dread, to the extent that you can’t actually produce anything at all?

I’m the last one, without a doubt.

My second year exams at university didn’t go as well as hoped because I was ready too soon. I didn’t know how long it would take me to learn two years worth of history notes and I dreaded running out of time, having to try and cram information into my brain in the last few hours before an exam; ‘doing an all-nighter’, which a lot of my friends swore by. Even the idea of it still makes me hyperventilate. 

  

To avoid this nightmare I started revising early, too early. By the time the exams came round I was bored of the Roman emperors, I’d overthought the causes of the Chinese Opium wars and I knew so much about the impact of female literacy in early modern Europe it was impossible to include it all in one essay. And that all showed in my exams. Those who were still learning new information 5 minutes before the exam seemed to coast through on a wave of adrenaline.

But I know I can’t do that.

 A former colleague of mine was always trying to convince me that the best sermons were written very late on a Saturday night. ‘The desperation makes me rely more on God and my thinking is clearer, my writing more alive.’ 

Good for him. If I have to write a sermon the night before I need to deliver it, I cannot hear God. I am too busy panicking. My ideas will be rushed, incomplete and poorly expressed.

And I am convinced that God can and does speak to me as I prepare a sermon, even if I do it on a Thursday!

It’s important to know what works for you, and be realistic about what that means.

If you thrive on the pressure of a deadline, I could let you know of some competitions with a closing date next week. You can write a story in a weekend, right? Or at least brush up one from your bottom drawer. You’ll do a good job on it when you know you haven’t got much time.

If deadlines are anathema to you, then organisation is your friend. Plan ahead, submit when you’re ready, preferably several days or even weeks in advance. Clear time on a Thursday to write that week’s sermon. And be willing to admit that you can’t write well when you’re stressed.

Either way, don’t pretend to be what you’re not. God made us who we are, adrenaline-junkies or advance-planners. Or something in between.