This Writer’s Never-Ending Story . . . Finish Already!

          I think I know why I have such a hard time finishing anything. I either pick projects that are huge or I take on activities that don’t have a clear end. If there is no finish, how can I ever say I finished? Take parenting, for example. It’s a decades-long job. With every new milestone, there comes yet another area in which to grow. Even when the children are grown, the still need mentoring and sometimes hands-on help (although that should be given rarely!).

          While I’ve never considered my children a project, something for me to get out of the way or to complete, my life as a parent has been full of open-ended activities. Given my natural tendency to always be open to new ideas and experimentation, I’ve had a hard time bringing many activities to an end. The time(s) we spent longer on a homeschool unit because of all the fascinating material we were discovering; the elaborate homemade Christmas presents planned, of which only a fraction were actually made; the list of places to visit that grew faster than we could plan vacations.

          Sometimes, as in the case of the Christmas presents or a vacation, a non-negotiable deadline put parameters on my projects. I had to choose to not make certain things or to make the less elaborate version. Or I had to pick a place and plan the trip.

          In the same way, deadlines, like this blog, force me to choose what to write, when to write and how much to write. That’s why, with the rare exception, I’ve been able to write an entry for every Monday since this blog went live. It’s also why I struggle to finish many of my other projects. Even when I could stop and call it good, I don’t. I think of better ways of saying this or that, I decide a character needs more work or even that I need to add or delete a character from the story. With no one expecting a story from me, I can putter with these characters and their lives longer and longer. (That’s exactly what I’ve done with one project and have turned it into a mangled mess!)

          I need an intervention! LOL

          Okay. Maybe that’s a little extreme. Maybe.I have decided, however, that I do need to force myself to meet some deadlines. To do that, I need help. As always, my wonderful friends and blog mates are nearby to lend me support, encouragement and seat-of-the-pants kicking. We’ve set up my next deadline and I’d better have something to “hand in”. Or else.

          I’m organizing my projects, determining which ones can be finished quickest (probaby the Time Tracker manual) and developing a plan. I’ll be talking more on that process next month, but for now I have my plan in place. What about you?

          This addresses the issue of a deadline. Now if I could just figure out the ending of this one story . . .