Guest Blog: "Deadly Deadlines or Power Prompter" by Sherry Gloag

Who, in their right mind, would want to work to a deadline? Well for many they have no choice.  It is part of their job description (so perhaps they did have a choice, after all.) But surprisingly many people thrive on working in just that way.  It’s not that they are disorganized, or forgetful, it’s not that they are slackers, and hope to pass the job to someone else before they have to approach it themselves.

No.  For many people the approaching deadline is the incentive they need to get ‘those juices’ flowing.  They are people who enjoy working under pressure to meet a deadline, and if done in the right way, they deliberately apply pressure to inspire themselves into action, even massive action. For these people putting themselves under pressure stretches them personally and breaks through the limits they’ve set themselves.

Most authors know all about deadlines, and believe me there are more of them than just turning in a manuscript on time. So why, you might ask, do they do it if they can avoid it? Well, sometimes they can’t.  Sometimes it is the process that creates the deadlines, but in many cases a little bit of organisation could avoid the additional stress created by looming deadlines.  But, and as ever there is a ‘but’ here.  Not a proven one, but an interesting one, never-the-less.

Authors, writers, are creative people, who have to provide hooks and conflicts in their stories to hold their readers’ interest.  Is it possible, on some subliminal level, they frequently work to the wire themselves because of the environs of their writing?

While adrenaline is mainly associated with the ‘fight or flight’ scenario, it is also naturally produced in high-stress or physically exhilarating situations, which is why so many people actually derive pleasure from leaving everything ‘till the last moment.

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The Gasquet Princes novels from Sherry, From Now Until Forever and His Chosen Bride from Astraea Press, are now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She can be contacted at her website, blog, Facebook, or Twitter accounts.