The Elephant in the Room.

Today we're going to talk about...

DEADLINES.

The reason we're going to talk about deadlines is that there is one looming over my head like an elephant being held up by dental floss and, as such, my brain is not really capable of picking apart nuances of the writing process. So, sorry if this blog comes out a little rambly and stream-of-consciousness-ish. I promise I'll return to coherency next week after I have completed this draft.

(OMGGUYSSERIOUSLYTHERE'SANELEPHANT).


Like the men in that car, I'm feeling a little concerned.

Deadlines are important though, despite the anxiety factor, especially for people like me. And by 'people like me', I mean people who turn procrastination into an art form. As much as I love to write, I always seem to be able to find eight hundred other things that I need to (or, often, simply can) do before I can settle in and really work. Often I require bribery, extortion, threats and, yes, looming elephants in order to get things done.

Why, you ask, if you love writing so much? I think it's a combination of things. Mostly it's because I have the attention span of a four week old cocker spaniel. It's also because the closer I get to finishing my novel, the closer I am to having to let it go. Soon I'm going to have to put it in the hands of someone who isn't Laura--who has been picking the plot apart since before the plot existed--and trust them with my baby. Trust them to love it, or hate it, or be completely indifferent to it. And that scares me.

However, I didn't write this manuscript so that I could hole up in a cave with it, stroke it and call it 'my preeeeecioussss'. I wrote it because I had something to say that I thought was important. Because I had characters in my head that wouldn't shut up. And because, at the end of the bribe-filled, elephant ducking day? Nothing makes me feel happier or more fulfilled than staring at my big pile of scribbled-on manuscript and knowing it is mine. I wrote it because I wanted the little girls I have been a nanny, babysitter, camp counselor, girl scout leader and big sister to, and the people who also read the books I love, to have, as John Green would say, a gift.

I wrote it because I wanted to share it with the world.

But the likelihood of the world ever being remotely interested in my gift is going to get even slimmer unless I meet this deadline. So, I guess I'd better get back to work