Self-Imposed Deadlines

By Darvell Hunt

Talent, courage, and inspiration create writers. Perseverance, experience, and deadlines create authors.

I’m somewhere between these two right now. I’m definitely a writer; I know that. I have numerous finished novels to prove it. What I’m working on now is becoming an author—and what I mean by that is becoming published.

Self-imposed deadlines can help with getting published. One of the best things I learned while writing for a local hometown newspaper was writing on demand. Submissios had to be made by the deadline or they would not appear in the next issue of the paper. It was that simple. You write your story on time or it doesn’t get published.

Deadlines also work with novels and other forms of writing, even if they are self-imposed. I’m planning to have two novels ready to submit by the end of this week. They need some final edits and then need to be printed out. By Saturday, this will be done.

That’s my deadline. I hope it helps me progress toward my goal of becoming a published novelist.