Dear Diary, I'm On Deadline!

Posted by Kate

For the first time in years, I didn't enter RWA's Golden Heart contest.

I admit I was happy and looking forward to cruising through the holidays with plenty of time to shop and feast and enjoy the company of my friends and family instead of my usual pattern of frantically writing and re-writing and polishing manuscripts to send off before the December 10th deadline, after which I would crawl to my couch, a shell of my former self, broken and drained and suffering a mini-breakdown complicated by bronchitis or worse.

Ah, those were good days.

But really, I was hoping I might avoid all that this year.

But guess what? I'm on Deadline, people!!!

It's my own fault, really. This deadline is self-imposed. Am I insane? Maybe. But what could I do? I want to sell some books before I die!

So the week before Thanksgiving, I set up a writing schedule with two deadlines. One was to get a 100-page partial out by December 1, and the other was to finish a rewrite of a full manuscript by December 18.

I made that December 1 deadline and it felt really great! And no mini-breakdown! Woo hoo! (And many thanks to Susan and Maureen, my nags--er, my idols!)

Now I'm busting my butt--and fingers and eyeballs and back--to get the second book out by December 18. This will pretty much ruin any chances I might've had of spending quality Christmas shopping time with the rest of the thundering hordes out at the malls. So, thanks to Michele Cwiertny, I found this great gift online. Everybody on my Christmas list is getting one.

The small picture doesn't fully convey the wonder of this gift. It's called "WWBD" or "What Would Bacon Do?"

It's a folder you can use for papers for a business meeting or a class at school. The dial is a piece of bacon you spin when you have a question or get bored during the meeting. Possible answers include "Smoke!" "Taste Good!" "Boycott Tofu!" I'm thinking I might make up my own answers. Oh yes, I'm getting one for myself, too!

My family is going to be so excited with this gift! And I'll be able to make my deadline! It's going to be a very merry Christmas at my house!!!

So, all you Deadline veterans, any suggestions on how to work through the holidays without going insane? And how about gifts? Can you help me find some more great gifts online? I mean, in case they run out of Bacon Folders??