Last Minute Writers

 

Our poster today says "Nothing makes me more productive than the  last minute."  We can all relate to those witty words. We all know that Christmas is December 25th every year, but how many of us put off getting ready for too long? We know that a wedding is a certain date, so why do some women wait until two days before to find a dress to wear to that event? We wait til the last minute on lots of things.

And yes, writers do it, too. Contest deadlines are often in our minds, and we mean to get something ready to enter, but this and that delay us, and suddenly it's the day before the deadline. Yikes! What do we do now? You have two choices:  either write something fast, give it a quick edit and send it in. Or pass on entering this time and spend more time getting your entry ready for another contest. When we send something to a contest that is done hurriedly, we know it is probably not going to be our best work, and doing so, makes the odds of winning far lower. When we use shortcuts and don't give enough time to a project, it will show in what we produce.

There are many publications that limit submission periods. Have you ever planned to send something but suddenly the end date looms above you, and you haven't even started the writing yet? Sure, you have the story mapped out in your mind, but you haven't put it on paper or a screen. But you'd really like to send the story to this particular place, so you write the first draft in the morning, edit in the afternoon, and submit it that evening. The end date for submissions is the next day, so you feel good that you wrote the story and sent it in all in one day. Pat yourself on the back time, isn't it? Well, not really. If you'd started the first draft a week earlier, then let it sit for two or three days, then edit, then let it sit another day, then send it in, you'll probably have a stronger submission than the one you did all in one day. 

If you have a great Valentine story to send to a magazine, on February 1st, you'll be rejected immediately. Magazines work months ahead. Holiday stories need to be sent around 6 months prior to the time it is celebrated. So, no tardy writing here.

The word for waiting to the last minute, of course, is procrastination. It's a common ailment. How many college students wait to cram the night before for a big exam? How many mothers don't start working on a child's birthday party soon enough and end up frazzled? How many kids don't do homework until the last minute? It's so easy to put things off. The longer you delay, the easier it seems to be able to do so. 

Yes, waiting until the last minute makes us shift into high gear, and we usually get whatever it is accomplished, but how much better might the end result be if we'd planned ahead or started earlier?