NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Top 5 Signs That You Are Going To Miss A Deadline


You're starting that sequel. The words are flowing. You're halfway through the book and you are still two months away from your deadline. No problem...

And then, a month or two later you are faced with these obvious signs that you're not going to make it. 


1.)   You spend more time calculating days on the calendar than your word count for the day.

2.)   You consider a few sentences an epic achievement.

3.)   You look at your total word count and try to convince yourself that 51,000 words is getting close to a full-length novel.

4.)   You open your website in EDIT mode and execute a find/replace for June to July.

5.)   You rationalize that if you can just type 40,000 words tomorrow, everything will be fine.


I should add that you eat more because you reason that the calorie boost will give you added energy. :)

MIST was originally scheduled to be released in June, but life gets in the way with the best laid plans.

Deadlines don't just apply to writers. We all have deadlines. Many we impose on ourselves. How are you at managing deadlines? Do you have any tricks to keep yourself focused?

Maureen A. Miller

6 comments:

Anne Marie Becker said...

Maureen, if I remember correctly, you have a lot going on, and some good reasons for missing your deadline. ;)

But yeah, these top 5 really hit close to home for me. I am almost exactly two months out from a deadline (also for a sequel to a book I'm finishing up) and have been distracted by everything on God's green earth lately. So yeah, I've been recalculating days and daily word count goals and such.

Just need to sit down and write, darn it! (If I'm going to make that deadline, that is. :) )

Maureen A. Miller said...

Yeah, it's all good, Anne Marie. Come mid-July I can finally focus again. :) I'm about to have a swarm of relatives descend upon me. That'll throw every ounce of determination out the window!



Wynter said...

I feel for you! I have a deadline looming as well, and many things getting in the way. Sometimes life happens and we must ask the powers that be for extensions. It's not the worst thing in the world. But I will say that I will do just about anything to avoid missing a deadline. Sleep is overrated!

Maureen A. Miller said...

Amen to the sleep comment, Wynter! Sleeping is downtime we can't always afford. :)

Clare London said...

Oh what an apt topic! I was up until 11pm on Wed night to get my MS to my editor for Thursday LOL. My family milled around me, receiving no response at all. And all I moaned was ... should have started earlier! Should have pushed myself earlier! Should have revised that 3k a day target to more like 1k, and *not* every day!

Years ago, I was given advice - to do with DIY projects actually, but I reckon it holds for writing too *g* - to plan how much time a project will take you, then TRIPLE it! :)

Maureen A. Miller said...

So true, Clare! But congratulations on making that deadline!

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