katallison (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
katallison) wrote2004-12-20 05:09 pm
katallison) wrote2004-12-20 05:09 pm
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A lot of my friends are doing the Year in Review thing for their stories, which on the one hand is very cool--I dig reading people's evals of their own work, and it's given me the chance to revisit some good fiction from the past year--and on the other and more selfish hand is a wee bit depressing, since the only things I've finished and posted all year have been flashfiction. (Well, those and the Seekrit Santa thing.)
Which leads me to ponder--what do all those stories have in common? Why, the fact that they were written against a deadline. Which in turn leads me to the most astonishing and highly unlikely conclusion that if a thing's gotta be done by a certain date, there's a greater likelihood that I will, in fact, get it done. Gee, ya think? What a surprise.
So now--even though I've always protested that I don't *do* deadlines, not this girl, had enough of that in grad school, thank you kindly--I'm contemplating whether it might not be a good idea to contract with one or two friends to impose on me some deadlines for all the crap-in-progress that is lying around on my hard drive like so many torpid lumpy puddings. I'm not saying I'm *going* to do this -- just that it's one of those things that, however unalluring in prospect, would probably be good for me. (Like quitting smoking, and eating more vegetables, and going to the gym three times a week, and getting *organized,* and having some vestige of a social life, and ...)
God, as I think about it, I could develop (if I wanted) the Mother Of All New Year's Resolutions lists, because lord knows there is *no* area of my life, however minute, that could not stand a comprehensive tune-up and adjustment. If I had more youthful optimism and resolve, this would be depressing; as it is, I know myself well enough to know that if I can make an inch of progress on even *one* of these, I'll be doing damn well. But I am going to think about this deadline idea some more ...
Which leads me to ponder--what do all those stories have in common? Why, the fact that they were written against a deadline. Which in turn leads me to the most astonishing and highly unlikely conclusion that if a thing's gotta be done by a certain date, there's a greater likelihood that I will, in fact, get it done. Gee, ya think? What a surprise.
So now--even though I've always protested that I don't *do* deadlines, not this girl, had enough of that in grad school, thank you kindly--I'm contemplating whether it might not be a good idea to contract with one or two friends to impose on me some deadlines for all the crap-in-progress that is lying around on my hard drive like so many torpid lumpy puddings. I'm not saying I'm *going* to do this -- just that it's one of those things that, however unalluring in prospect, would probably be good for me. (Like quitting smoking, and eating more vegetables, and going to the gym three times a week, and getting *organized,* and having some vestige of a social life, and ...)
God, as I think about it, I could develop (if I wanted) the Mother Of All New Year's Resolutions lists, because lord knows there is *no* area of my life, however minute, that could not stand a comprehensive tune-up and adjustment. If I had more youthful optimism and resolve, this would be depressing; as it is, I know myself well enough to know that if I can make an inch of progress on even *one* of these, I'll be doing damn well. But I am going to think about this deadline idea some more ...
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