Deadline: December

I've wanted to start my novel in December for a while now, but writing a date down makes it more concrete. One of my biggest writing problems is deadlines. I can meet them really well, but my problem is I don't always set them.

When I first started writing novels, I wouldn't do much research and I didn't set a word count or an end date for completion. So I'd write hundreds of pages of rambling, un-researched prose. Then I'd get writer's block and never complete any of these novels. After a few of these, I went in the opposite direction. I researched for months, even years. But I never sat down to write. I never set an end date. Or in this case, a start date.

I wrote short stories instead, and strangely enough, they helped. I set up time frames with short story writing, because I was less afraid of writing them. I wasn't afraid that I could never finish short stories, so I finished. Subconsciously I was afraid of tackling novels because I thought I couldn't complete them. And so, I sabotaged myself. No start dates, pages of endless research, no end dates, no word counts. I didn't realize I was sabotaging myself out of fear until this year. Which is why this year I decided I have to finish writing a novel. Even if it's terrible and embarrassing, there's room for improvement. If it's decent, then all these years of writing in fits and starts will have paid off even more than I could have hoped. Which is why I've set a start date for my novel - December 1, 2010. It makes me nervous, but in a good way.

Have you set any deadlines for yourself lately?

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