Deborah Cooke: Author

I can never figure this out: no matter how many times I write a book and no matter how steadily I work away at that book, I invariably realize in the last 48 hours before delivery that there is far too much left to be written in the time available. I always have this frantic race to the finish. I panic and I pour it on and I make deadline. Then I vow that this will never happen again.

And it does.

It’s irrational, but it happens every time.

(So do the 10,000 Post-It Notes Flying in Formation, but I don’t mind those as much as the adrenaline rush.)

For example, last Friday, I had 89,000 completed words, one big fight scene to write and the H.E.A. I thought I was in pretty good shape with KISS OF FURY. I always think this. This is false confidence. A delusion due to be shattered. After thirty-some books, I should be aware of the foreshadowing.

Because then I start writing the big fight scene and notice all the plot threads that are still dangling. (That’s where the Post-Its come in.) I weave and I edit and I think of 17 more things and 5 more scenes and 62 more great lines…and even though I type faster and faster and faster, I never seem to get any closer to The End. The list of things to be done seems to spontaneously generate more items even as I cross them off. It is the Hydra of lists – delete one item and three more appear in its place while I refill my tea.

I fret. I work. I type like a madwoman. I edit and slash and burn and write. I fret some more. I dream about the book – when I’m not lying awake worrying about getting it done. It is 3 or 4 days (and nights) of manic terror.

Until suddenly the book is done.

*Poof*

Right on time.

*Alakazam*

Just like, um, I planned it that way. I’m starting to wonder if maybe, on some level, I do plan it that way. Maybe I need the motivational push of a deadline looming to get into the mode of tying up all the loose ends. I do know that I work better with deadlines. I know that once I’ve navigated the middle and laid out the whole conflict resolution, I’m less enthused about actually writing it down. There’s no discovery left for me in the last 50 pages – it’s obvious what’s going to happen. I’ve noticed that as soon as I realize I’m in good shape for making delivery, I have a desperate need to do something other than write. I visit a wool store. I do promotion. The avoidance trait is so pronounced that I wonder how the heck I ever finished my first book, the one that I sold on a complete.

This tendency would explain the U.F.O.’s in my knitting basket too. Christmas and birthdays are great motivators for finishing gifts, but the things that linger in my knitting basket are projects for myself or for Mr. C. They tend to be projects that are past the point of challenge. No surprises in finishing the collar on that sweater, or sewing together that other one. No adventure in knitting the second sock. I’d rather cast on something new and embark on a new challenge.

I’d rather start writing a new book, instead of finishing the current one in process. So, deadlines are my friend. Deadlines compel me to finish my books and deliver them (and yes, get paid.)
And that makes me curious about other writers and creative types. Am I weird or are you just the same as me? (We can make a team!) Do you work better with deadlines or without?

Do you finish projects of any kind without deadlines?