I have an ADD brain which switches focus every five seconds. My brain is on the 405 in LA, in five lanes all at once. Deadlines work for me and that’s about all that works. This is why I liked working in animation; I knew that if, as Supervising Producer, I did not get the writers to deliver, there would be empty air on the Nickelodeon Network. My son who has a brain like mine, is a journalist. Perfect. Deadlines. Always deadlines. But if we don’t have deadlines, or we don’t keep our self-assigned ones, we are in trouble.

I decided that this is the summer of finishing my novel, a book I’ve been working on for years. I was in graduate school with the intention of completing my novel. I did that. But since then I’ve brought in several editors, taken a lot of workshops, been told it would make a good movie; figured out I need to learn to write. I have learned a lot and I still have a lot more to do. But I am anxious to get this book out the door so I can focus on other projects.

So I’ve given myself a deadline.

Prompt:

What are you writing? Have you given yourself a deadline for the piece? How about Labor Day? And how about making a commitment to the deadline with several friends holding you accountable.

This is the summer of deadlines!