I'm a big believer in a regular writing schedule. Find a time of day
that works best for you, carve that time out, and affix yourself to a
chair and get it done. It's not always easy or fun, but that's how one
gets it done.
Now, fortunately, so far, I've not had much of a problem with deadlines. The Thorn of Dentonhill and A Murder of Mages were
essentially complete manuscripts when they sold. Editing work was
required, but the time I was given to get that done was ample. On top
of that, as soon as I signed the Thorn contract I started to put my nose to the grindstone on Thorn II.
That
doesn't mean I'm immune to things blowing up in my face. A disruption
to my life can throw everything out of sync. A few weeks ago my wife
was in a car accident. Fortunately her injuries were relatively minor,
but the car was totaled. So the process of dealing with things like
insurance, car rental, and so forth is time and energy out of my day,
and that has to come from somewhere, and "somewhere" more often than not
turns out to be writing. Or sleep. Or the dishes pile up. Those last
two tend to come to a head far sooner than the writing, though.
Since my deadlines are relatively self-imposed at this point (i.e., when I
want to get something done is sooner than other people are asking for
it), getting back on track is mostly a matter of readjusting my
expectations and going back to the grind. I've learned from experience
that trying to do things like double my output or "catch up" usually
results in things going even further off the rails.
Not
to be all tortoise-and-the-hare, but slow and steady, getting back on
task and doing the work each day is really the only thing you can do.
But it does help that my personal deadlines give me enough breathing
room to account for things going wrong.
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