The Raven crew is on the way back from Superstars, so expect a big, big update in the coming few days or so on that! In the meantime, gather round for a discussion about a problem as old as time itself (or at least the use of calendars):
Missed deadlines, or really any goal that you fail to meet.
As writers, I’d be willing to bet most—if not all—of us have been there before, and likely more than once. We miss an open call for submissions (Feel free to check ours out, by the way…), or we can’t finish edits in time for a particular publication window, or maybe we just fail to meet our personal goals and self-imposed deadlines. I know I’ve been guilty of all three, and the failure to meet personal deadlines can bring about some of the worst feelings. After all, if we can’t live up to our own expectations, how can we hope to live up to anyone else’s?
Then again, we tend to be our worst critics, so maybe that’s a bad example…
Or maybe not. One piece of advice I’d like to give here to you and to myself is this: while we’re often our own worst critics in all the various aspects of writing (From editing to the aforementioned goal/deadline setting), there’s a wrong way to use that inner critic and a right way. The wrong way is to let the inner critic run wild and tear everything to shreds. That kind of self-flagellation can cause short-term bursts of activity, but it’s ultimately self-destructive and can suck your motivation down into a quagmire of despair.
The right way is to use that critical voice in a manner that motivates us to better the next time. Miss a deadline? Assess what led you to that point. Sometimes it is a matter of poor prioritization and time management, and sometimes it’s from circumstances beyond your control. Sometimes (Most of the time, in my experience), it’s both. Figure out your weak areas and focus on improvement, and plan for life to go sideways. If you have a chance to get a bit of extra writing done on a week night but think it can wait until your planned session for the weekend, maybe get a bit of that extra writing done. By the time the weekend arrives, you might be hip-deep in some kind of work or family mess that will suck away all your scheduled writing time.
And don’t focus entirely on your weaknesses. Figure out where you shine the most, and try to strengthen those areas, too. Not only will this help you improve in a more rounded manner, it’ll serve as a morale boost. It’s easy to fall into a funk if all you see is negativity around your activities and attributes. I know because I’ve been there, more often than I’d care to admit!
Lastly, be open about where you’re struggling with your core group of writing buddies, and especially with those you’re doing business with. Editors, publishers, and coauthors all need to know what’s going on, as a missed deadline on your part will have an effect on them. Editing and publishing dates will have to be shuffled around, and a coauthor may have to take up the slack or shift to a different project until you can catch up to them, or a project may have to be abandoned entirely. If we keep everyone in the loop, we can all hold each other accountable, cover for each other’s weaknesses, and take advantage of each other’s strengths. It’s win-win all around, but the key is open communication so everyone is on the same page.
If any of this is hitting a nerve, don’t feel like you’re alone. You’ve got at least one other person who feels the same way: me! I’ve failed in all the aforementioned areas, with the lack of communication a critical one. When I’m negative on myself, I withdraw in an effort to fix it so no one else has to deal with it, but that’s not typically a winning strategy. It’s a defense mechanism from somewhere deep in childhood, and one that has resurfaced a lot lately. But, hey, life has a way of throwing a lot at us all at once, and all we can do is try to keep moving forward a little at a time.
That was a lot deeper and a tad bit darker than I normally write in the nonfiction section of these posts. Next week will be lighter and on the funnier side, I promise! But for now, let’s shift gears a bit over to something a bit more hopeful:
These Heroes Won’t Let the World Keep Them Down!
Tomorrow’s Hope is an anthology that lives up to the name: sci-fi stories with an extra helping of hope and positivity. The heroes may struggle against titanic forces, but the light always shines through in the end. If this is your kind of thing, then check it out!
Tomorrow’s Hope: A journey of exploration and hope builds on the themes reminiscent of classic Science Fiction written by the greats of the 1960’s. Inspired by the works of Ben Bova, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, and more, we dive into worlds that could be just around the corner.
With Essays by Arlan Andrews, Les Johnson, and stories by Bart Kemper, Benjamin Tyler Smith, Charli Cox, Gustavo Bondoni, Jetse de Vries, Michael Anthony Dioguardi, Sarina Dorie, Malorie Cooper, and William Joseph Roberts, you are sure to enjoy this collection.
