I’m over at Oh Get a Grip! today talking about writing pressure. Which is ironic, considering the week I’ve had.

The pressure I feel as a writer/editor is purely self-driven. I suppose if I was chronic about missing deadlines, the pressure would come from editors and publishers. (I desperately hope there isn’t an editor out there who would truly nag me for being one day past deadline, but I can’t take that chance.) Of course, much of my writing is on spec, so if I’m late enough the deadline slips by and no one cares-- but me.

While it’s very, very rare for me to miss an expected deadline, I have missed many, many self-inflicted deadlines. Contests, anthologies, conferences, promotional opportunities-- I have missed them all many times. It requires a tremendous amount of discipline to be a freelancer, but I still don’t have as much discipline as I should-- or as much as I would like. (Slacker, slacker, slacker!)

It’s hard not to compare myself to my peers. Especially those who are more productive than me. (Which seems to be all of them, some days.) Author X has written three novels in the past year, Author Y submitted four stories, six poems, two essays and ran a marathon this week and Author Z just signed a ten-book contract.

Or so it feels, sometimes.

Stop by and say hi. And tell me how you cope with pressure. 

Posted by Kristina in Writing at 03:08 PM Permalink