This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
by Anna Bell
I’ve always worked best under pressure – be it school or university essays, exhibitions with fixed opening dates at my old job, or now when there’s manuscript delivery date looming. Yet, I’m currently working to a ticking time bomb of a deadline, aka the birth of baby number two, and it sure is a motivator to get typing.
I’ve just sent a manuscript off to my editor – the deadline was the beginning of August – and it’s due to be released in March. There’s no relaxing with this one. It’s going to come back with notes from my editor to be worked on, then it will come back to me again after a line edit, after a copy edit and after it has been page set. I’m slightly nervous about fitting those edits around my changing family circumstances, but I’m confident that I managed the first time round with Baby Bell and I’ll do it again – even if when I look back on that time my life was an absolute blur.
The thing I’m most worried about is the following book. It may not be due to be delivered until next June, but I’m conscious that my writing time will be ever more squeezed come October, so the more I can do before the new arrival, the better. In this vein, I’ve set myself a challenge: to write a first draft of the new book before the baby comes. Now, I realise this may be slightly unrealistic as one thing is certain: the manuscript that is currently with my editor is due back at any minute. How much work I’m going to have to do on that edit is going to depend on what they thought and how many pages of notes they give me. Then there’s the other uncertain thing, aka the baby. I’m 32 weeks pregnant, which means I’ve got about eight weeks until he or she makes their appearance but, realistically, from next month they could come at any point.
But let’s pretend baby is going to come on their due date. Eight weeks is plenty of time to do all this work, right? Well, it might be if my writing time wasn’t reduced to an hour to two a day depending on baby number one’s nap length, and an hour in the evening if I’m not exhausted. Even our French nursery is against me, closing in August and therefore denying me my seven hours a week of writing time that I’d usually have whilst Baby Bell is there. But still, despite my crazy work schedule, it’s doable right?
I’m surprisingly optimistic, and to be honest, I’m the most focused I’ve been in ages. I managed to write 4,500 words today thanks to an extra long nap and my husband taking Baby Bell out for an hour. It takes my total of the new WIP to 15,500 words, which I think is pretty good considering I’ve been writing it for less than two weeks. But it’s not just my focus that’s moving the novel along, I’ve got a really clear idea of the plot, too. I’ve planned the novel down to quite intense detail and so when I get in front of my laptop I know exactly where I’m going and what I’m writing. I’m also being extra good and not surfing online when I get my precious writing time. Well, almost no surfing.
If I carry on at this writing pace, and the baby cooks until it’s supposed to, and my manuscript comes back without too many notes, then I just might get it done. What do you reckon, am I crazy? Or do you set yourself almost impossible deadlines (and manage them) too?