Love and loathe deadlines

I’d be the first to admit that I would not write without deadlines, but lately I’ve found them annoying.

I can never seem to meet them anymore. I’m always just in the ballpark, a day or two off. Without them, I wouldn’t write. I’d do other things instead like read. With them, I always feel like I need a little more time. And wouldn’t you know it? Once I turn the piece in the perfect source or idea hits me.

One time I read that the idea of a writer’s deadline comes from the notion of a *criminal on death row.

Well, thank goodness for second chances, uh, I mean,  second drafts. I get to meet (or almost meet) the deadline and then go back and revise the piece again once the editors have made comments.

*I’m going to find that citation; it was in a book by Donald Murray.