The Autistic Writer: Deadlines

tyunglebower ♦ August 16, 2023 ♦ Leave a comment

Many writers have a love/hate relationship with deadlines. That is to say, writers love to hate them.

Jokes aside, deadlines are a crucial pillar of a writing career. Mostly for the benefit of the publication for which the writer is working, but for the writer as well, though many may be loath to admit it.

With few exceptions, I have always me my deadlines for work done for other people. Even in the rare situation when I couldn’t quite make it, it angered nobody but myself. I wouldn’t test the patience of any editor by being habitually late, as that would be wholly unprofessional, but I have been fortunate enough to never be involved in any ugliness when those handful of deadlines passed without my filing.

Punctuality appears to be not merely a common trait for those on the Spectrum, but a near obsession. It is for me. I’ve had to pretend frequently, for the sake of certain relationships that I don’t care about someone being late.

In truth, I despise lateness. If you say you will show up at 6:00PM, and half passed arrives without a word from you, I’ll be irritated bordering on offended. Most of the time I won’t express it to you, but I’m probably fighting every urge to that effect for at least the first 15 minutes we’re together.

What I expect from others I must therefore expect of myself. If I agree to a time, I stick to a time, even at the expense of other events. If that proves impossible, I will contact the other party ASAP. Barring extreme circumstances, nobody will be left waiting and wondering on my account.

There are times when this helps with writing, as I said. With a deadline, obviously, a writer has to get on with it. A professional won’t just toss in garbage drafts for the sake of being on time, but they will not, cannot obsess over perfection of every phrase if it prevents them from making progress toward an established deadline.

Deadlines are probably why, despite many other issues at hand, I did so well in college.

That’s not to say I’d never appreciate a less tight deadline for any given pitch or assignment. As I mentioned in a previous post about interviews, I require a lot of mental preparation to accomplish all the various requirements of a written piece. There are times it isn’t quite enough time for me.

Not to mention, I have an Autistic longing some days to delve deeper into a topic than a given freelance piece will allow. Rare is the writer, outside of the highest echelons of the industry, that has the luxury to spend weeks or months covering every possible angle before writing the piece. How I’d love the chance to do that. The work would be hard, but the result worth it.

It is what it is, and better to write on a tight deadline, than not write at all, of course.

As an indie-author of fiction, my deadlines are my own. There is always a danger of blowing a deadline set for one’s self, but thankfully, this is also rare for me. Otherwise, the previously mentioned Autistic perfectionism would prevent me from ever publishing anything.

This very piece, for example. I am writing it in the midst of my own self-imposed weekly deadline for this project. Which means, I can and will conclude here, in order to make it.\

(I was finished anyway…)