What A Difference A Day Makes
It was bound to happen eventually, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be until much later in the year.
To be honest, I was really hoping it wouldn’t happen at all, but I sort of assumed that it would happen eventually.
The “it” in question was a missed deadline. As I have discussed quite a bit lately, I have a number of anthologies that I want to submit to this year. I have all of these deadlines on a whiteboard.1
Today, one of those deadlines went flying by with a horrible sound.2
There are benefits and drawbacks to the kind of writing schedule that I set for myself this year. It is great that I have multiple projects lined up. This greatly reduces the odds of me finishing something and then lying fallow while waiting to hear back from a publisher. I simply don’t have the time to sit back if I am going to get the next project done on time. It also keeps me focused, especially during time dedicated to writing. I simply don’t have the time to screw around if I am going to get things done.
The disadvantage is that a little thing like the loss of a couple of days of productivity can mean throwing the schedule out of whack. This is what happened this week. I was on schedule3 for a short story that I was working on for science fiction anthology. I was sitting at the computer before work, sipping coffee.4
Then Captain Tripps reared his ugly head.
I spent a day and half being violently ill. I will spare you the details of this particular strain of Klingon Death Flu. Suffice it to say it would be a great weight loss technique. Over the span of two days I slept for about 29 hours. I was either actively being sick5 or sleeping. I was so out of it I couldn’t focus on anything. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t focus enough to pay attention to an audiobook. I couldn’t even make sense of the fail videos on YouTube.6
I certainly didn’t have the capacity to write anything.
This meant that between work and The Mrs’ birthday, I had to crunch in two days worth of writing and editing, format the story, and submit it. I had two options: rush it and force out something of questionable value or admit defeat.
Rather than send in something I wasn’t going to be proud of, I chose the latter option.
A lot of this has to do with pride. I have gotten to the point that I do not want my name associated with something that I would not be proud to claim. I don’t want editors see material that isn’t the absolute best that I can do. I feel I owe it to any potential readers to make sure that I am not half-assing it when it comes to my writing.7
Plus, I owe it to the story itself to make sure that it gets polished nicely. After a little floundering, I came up with a solid idea. Unfortunately, the opening was weak. It was passable as it was, but it was not what it should have been.
So I missed my chance to submit to that particular market. Fortunately, it wasn’t something that I had already contracted to do, so I wasn’t letting down anyone other than myself. To be fair, I didn’t even do that, as I have every intention of finishing the story and polishing it nicely.
I’d love to stay and talk about this some more, but I have another deadline that I have to meet.
1 But you’ve read all of this already.
2 A sound suspiciously like this.
3 Or perhaps a smidge behind, but still in the “totally doable” range.
4 Much like I’m doing right now.
5 What? Like you don’t watch them.
6 Yes, that kind of active.
7 Yep, I’m whole ass all the way.
To be honest, I was really hoping it wouldn’t happen at all, but I sort of assumed that it would happen eventually.
The “it” in question was a missed deadline. As I have discussed quite a bit lately, I have a number of anthologies that I want to submit to this year. I have all of these deadlines on a whiteboard.1
Today, one of those deadlines went flying by with a horrible sound.2
There are benefits and drawbacks to the kind of writing schedule that I set for myself this year. It is great that I have multiple projects lined up. This greatly reduces the odds of me finishing something and then lying fallow while waiting to hear back from a publisher. I simply don’t have the time to sit back if I am going to get the next project done on time. It also keeps me focused, especially during time dedicated to writing. I simply don’t have the time to screw around if I am going to get things done.
The disadvantage is that a little thing like the loss of a couple of days of productivity can mean throwing the schedule out of whack. This is what happened this week. I was on schedule3 for a short story that I was working on for science fiction anthology. I was sitting at the computer before work, sipping coffee.4
Then Captain Tripps reared his ugly head.
I spent a day and half being violently ill. I will spare you the details of this particular strain of Klingon Death Flu. Suffice it to say it would be a great weight loss technique. Over the span of two days I slept for about 29 hours. I was either actively being sick5 or sleeping. I was so out of it I couldn’t focus on anything. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t focus enough to pay attention to an audiobook. I couldn’t even make sense of the fail videos on YouTube.6
I certainly didn’t have the capacity to write anything.
This meant that between work and The Mrs’ birthday, I had to crunch in two days worth of writing and editing, format the story, and submit it. I had two options: rush it and force out something of questionable value or admit defeat.
Rather than send in something I wasn’t going to be proud of, I chose the latter option.
A lot of this has to do with pride. I have gotten to the point that I do not want my name associated with something that I would not be proud to claim. I don’t want editors see material that isn’t the absolute best that I can do. I feel I owe it to any potential readers to make sure that I am not half-assing it when it comes to my writing.7
Plus, I owe it to the story itself to make sure that it gets polished nicely. After a little floundering, I came up with a solid idea. Unfortunately, the opening was weak. It was passable as it was, but it was not what it should have been.
So I missed my chance to submit to that particular market. Fortunately, it wasn’t something that I had already contracted to do, so I wasn’t letting down anyone other than myself. To be fair, I didn’t even do that, as I have every intention of finishing the story and polishing it nicely.
I’d love to stay and talk about this some more, but I have another deadline that I have to meet.
1 But you’ve read all of this already.
2 A sound suspiciously like this.
3 Or perhaps a smidge behind, but still in the “totally doable” range.
4 Much like I’m doing right now.
5 What? Like you don’t watch them.
6 Yes, that kind of active.
7 Yep, I’m whole ass all the way.