Deadlines: Friends?

Are deadlines really friends to the writer? Actually, I think they are. Originally, I thought "yah right!" but the more I think about it, I tend to agree with Murray. Deadlines push me to get things done and they give me some needed motivation and incentive. I am not one of those people who see deadlines as flexible options. Maybe I am a little OCD about this, but I have to get things done by the deadline. Deadlines are not optional and it so relieving to see things get done and handed in. Maybe that's another reason why deadlines are friends, because once they arrive things just get so much better!

I like actual deadlines, but I don't know if I can make as many "fake" deadlines as Murray suggests in Write to Learn. He shows an example of setting deadlines for a paper, due at the end of the semester, all the way from the beginning of the semester. That seems a little far-fetched. Sometimes I do that, and occasionally the deadlines are helpful, but I rarely meet the advance deadlines I set. I have to say though, that I have found it helpful for working on our research paper for this class to have the research assignments deadlines. If it wasn't for the assignments, I would never have so much work done on a paper due in a month. Maybe I should make a better habit of setting deadlines in advance to make my writing life so much easier. I know it is easier, the problem is just getting into the habit of keeping the deadlines. And not pushing the deadlines away, knowing that they aren't "real" deadlines and doing other things instead.

If deadlines truly are my friends, I think I need to make more of them!