Novels and Deadlines and Pressure, Oh My

Date Written: March 25^th, 2012 (finished March 26^th, 2012)
Date Posted: March 30^th, 2012
Currently Listening To: The Killers – Change Your Mind, These Kids Wear Crowns – Oceans

So, tomorrow, I have a plot test on another book I haven’t read, but will hopefully finish by today. And I decide I’m going to do the same thing with this as I did with A Separate Peace.

I’m going to sit down on my bed with my door closed and listen to a bunch of music and read. I won’t chart my progress, but I will make sure to finish it by the end of tonight. It worked last Sunday, right?

So I’m in the middle of picking out my playlist to which I will read Her Fearful Symmetry to, when suddenly, it hits me.

I need deadlines.

(I find this absolutely hilarious, because I am a procrastinator extraordinaire.)

Deadlines give me something to work towards. Without them, I feel like there’s no pressure, and the thing is – I like pressure. Pressure also means something to work towards. It means that there is an expectation to do better and if you get it done, you can show off the fact that you can handle pressure when it’s thrown at you and if you get it done creatively, even better. And as long as the deadlines are doable, I generally get them done.

(With the exception of reading English novels, obviously, because I’ve had A Separate Peace and Her Fearful Symmetry since the beginning of February and I’ve only started within the last two weeks. But I still get them done… hopefully.)

So, ladies and gentlemen and other lovely creatures who inhabit the universe that are reading this:

I have a deadline.

I want to finish a(n approximately) 200,000 word novel by June 26^th, 2012.

I am now a man with a plan… well, girl with a plan… no, girl with a mission. There we go.

I’m a girl with a mission.

-          May :)

(P.S. I finished Her Fearful Symmetry in time for my test. Can I get a boo-yeah?!)