Deadlines are good. They help writers focus on completing book-writing tasks. Sometimes deadlines aren’t so good. Writers may carefully plan how they’re going to meet deadlines, padding their schedules for unexpected events. Then they discover the padding wasn’t enough and they’re in a pickle.

Unexpected Events for John Writer

• Others experience their own unanticipated happenings. They don’t provide something John Writer needs to move forward.

• An illness or accident whacks John Writer’s energy to do anything or fills his schedule with doctor appointments.

• Unplanned personal events arise. Although some personal incidents are necessary to attend to, others aren’t, but John Writer feels they are. He would feel ashamed to not give of his time. Here are examples:

         ♥ A grandchild living five hours away is receiving a honor at school and has asked John Writer to be there.

         ♥ A church or charity committee has asked member John Writer to help with an event. Why should John Writer say no? The others on the committee have deadlines too. Sadly, a lot more prep work was involved than what was promised.

         ♥ John Writer’s spouse patiently waits for him to be part of her life again and, with hope filling her eyes, asks Writer to go away for a weekend.

So What Does John Writer Do?

• Asks spouse to drive on trips, and with a laptop on his lap, he works during the journey.

• Pulls all-nighters.

• Weasels out of writer group meetings; after all, the participants should understand deadlines.

• Allows excellence to slip on non-writing or other writing tasks.

• Dumps woes on spouse.

• Lives in an overwhelmed state.

• Quits marketing other books, vows never to write another book, asks the conference to be postponed so he can get his workshop developed—what?!

STOP – Find Good Solutions

Here are what I think I’m going to do or continue doing:

• Pray for help. God is faithful.

• Choose not to do frivolous tasks or those that can be postponed without hurting anyone, such as

♥ Leave the dust on the shelf in the closet.

♥ Don’t peruse the Grandin Road magazine that came in the mail, whose wares I will never buy anyway.

♥ Sew the bow back on my PJs.

• Care for myself, such as

♥ Take rejuvenating breaks and spend fifteen minutes with my husband.

♥ Nix the mulling and worrying at bedtime; mulling or worrying is a choice.

♥ Refuse to work on Sundays.

♥ Retreat to our cabin to work—getting away from phone calls and seeing the dust on my closet shelf.

• Yes, for a season, get up early on Saturdays and snatch more time where appropriate.

• Ask for an extension on the deadline. If an illness or other tragedy occurs, this is valid and usually honored by publishers.

Use deadlines to help get your book written, not to kill you. Click to tweet.

How do you deal with deadlines? Give us your healthy suggestions.

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Suddenly unemployed, Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina where she caddies for her father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters a man who possesses an alluring gift of reading the contours of the green. Fascinated with his uncanny ability, Allie is excited to meet the Green Whisperer—until she discovers that the easygoing caddy is actually Shoo Leonard, the boy who teased her relentlessly when they were kids. Despite Allie’s reservations, when Shoo is faced with having to overcome a hand injury, she agrees to use her sport science degree to become his trainer…and then she falls for him.

 Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn’t ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he’s content to be her fist-bumping buddy…but then he falls for her.

What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she’s become a distraction to Shoo’s career. Is it time for her to step away or can The Putting Green Whisperer find the right words to make her stay?