I suck at contest and event deadlines

[SimonDoom]

I love the idea of using contests and deadlines as a way of motivating me to write stories and to get more exposure through participation. But I have to admit, it rarely works for me. I'm a write-when-the-inspiration-comes writer, probably because I'm not getting paid for this, and if I'm stuck on one project, I'll drop it and work on something else if the mood strikes me. I've missed far more contest and event deadlines than I've met. I'm about to miss two more. I'm thinking from now on I should stop broadcasting plans and just be quiet and do what I do and see what happens. Plans and expectations seem to bog me down more than spur me on.

I'm coming up on my six-year Literotica anniversary in a week and I've published 53 stories, which is far, far more than I ever would have expected to publish six years ago, and that feels good. To the extent I've achieved any "success", it has nothing to do with entering contests. In fact, the only two contests I've won or placed in were annual category contests with no pre-publication deadlines.

Does anybody else feel like contest deadlines sometimes become an anchor weighing down one's creativity?

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'm thinking from now on I should stop broadcasting plans...

Does anybody else feel like contest deadlines sometimes become an anchor weighing down one's creativity?

I think it's fine to shoot the breeze about what you are planning. No one is going to be cross with you if you say that a contest story didn't pan out. We all understand work-life-writing balance and most of us have missed our own deadlines.

I did three contests earlier in the year. They were fun and it did help my focus having a clear deadline. I did have a good Christmas story that would only have been about 6k words, but didn't get round to actually producing it because I had other stories in progress that were flowing well and it seemed silly to stop.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think it's fine to shoot the breeze about what you are planning. No one is going to be cross with you if you say that a contest story didn't pan out. We all understand work-life-writing balance and most of us have missed our own deadlines.

I did three contests earlier in the year. They were fun and it did help my focus having a clear deadline. I did have a good Christmas story that would only have been about 6k words, but didn't get round to actually producing it because I had other stories in progress that were flowing well and it seemed silly to stop.

I'm not worried about what others will say. My concern is more about how the "need" to meet a contest deadline seems to adversely affect the creative process for me. I seem to do better when I eliminate expectations and keep things free-flowing.

 

[Seadog777]

I love the idea of using contests and deadlines as a way of motivating me to write stories and to get more exposure through participation. But I have to admit, it rarely works for me. I'm a write-when-the-inspiration-comes writer, probably because I'm not getting paid for this, and if I'm stuck on one project, I'll drop it and work on something else if the mood strikes me. I've missed far more contest and event deadlines than I've met. I'm about to miss two more. I'm thinking from now on I should stop broadcasting plans and just be quiet and do what I do and see what happens. Plans and expectations seem to bog me down more than spur me on.

I'm coming up on my six-year Literotica anniversary in a week and I've published 53 stories, which is far, far more than I ever would have expected to publish six years ago, and that feels good. To the extent I've achieved any "success", it has nothing to do with entering contests. In fact, the only two contests I've won or placed in were annual category contests with no pre-publication deadlines.

Does anybody else feel like contest deadlines sometimes become an anchor weighing down one's creativity?

I struggle with a hard deadline as well.

I too am struggling with my Holiday Contest Story.

 

[KeithD]

After years of facing analysis deadlines of events as they were happening, I won't include that sort of pressure in writing erotica. It's not that hard to avoid. Write well in advance of the contest you're going to enter the story in. I have drafts of stories for the 2023 Halloween contest in the files. No current contest pressure. What's currently in mind is the winter holiday season? Fine. Write a story for the 2023 Winter Holiday contest now.

 

[HeyAll]

Deadlines help me stay and track and push harder. I love writing for contests.

The only downside is that sometimes I want to write stories for other topics, but i'm compelled by the contests to write something different. April Fool's and Nude Day are the most fun.

 

[RejectReality]

Create a folder for holiday/contest theme stories if slipping past the season causes your motivation for those themes to plummet. Then revisit it in coming years. Some you may be able to finish. Others may inspire new, better ideas. Some may sit there for eternity, but you never know when it may spark. I've got a Valentine's lesbian story I've been tweaking annually since 2011 LOL

 

[Rob_Royale]

By a strange fluke of timing and luck. I'll have a story for the Pink Orchid 2023 event. It'll be my first on Lit and I'm really looking forward to it. Otherwise, my ability to hit a deadline would be much like yours.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm thinking from now on I should stop broadcasting plans and just be quiet and do what I do and see what happens. Plans and expectations seem to bog me down more than spur me on.

You no doubt wish you'd never made that New Year's Resolution in whatever year it was, because you know I'll never forget it,.

Does anybody else feel like contest deadlines sometimes become an anchor weighing down one's creativity?

I too am crap with deadlines - the only ones I've actually hit were the first Geek Anthology, several years ago, and the first Mickey Spillane tribute, was that last year? Wait, I did manage a couple of 750 Word Anthology stories, but if you can't get a 750 worder in on time, you'd be missing the bus, even if you ran for it.

I rarely bother with Contests, because: a) deadlines; b) the seasonal ones are all ass-about-face, me being in Australia; and c) Halloween and Valentine's Day don't mean much to me. Mostly, though, I don't write to any deadline except my own.

 

[Voboy]

I'm not worried about what others will say. My concern is more about how the "need" to meet a contest deadline seems to adversely affect the creative process for me. I seem to do better when I eliminate expectations and keep things free-flowing.

This is why I don't write commercially anymore. The deadlines there matter.

I usually write fast, and I don't have trouble meeting deadlines per se... but I usually imposed my own, and that definitely hurt my creativity. I had a situation once where my publisher gave me a year to write four stories. I told myself I could pretty easily get them done in 3-4 months, so that's what I tried to do: the date I'd given myself assumed so much importance that I know I rushed the last two books, and particularly the last one.

I'm told they sold well, so I have to assume my struggles weren't obvious in the finished product. But by the end of the process, I loathed those characters and their stories, and no longer wanted anything to do with them. I didn't like that feeling.

Compared to that? Contest deadlines are no biggie, especially because they're not "real" deadlines. The worst that happens if you don't meet them is missing the contest, and that's no biggie.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I don't do deadlines unless I am being paid to meet them.

Where contests here are concerned, I've only entered a couple, and those were stories in progress that I was able to adapt to the particular contest theme without having to start from scratch.

 

[MrPixel]

Since I'm an inspiration-only writer there are no deadlines for me because contests are not a motivator. Also, the contest rules I've seen exclude extracting material from serial or chaptered works, and that's what I write. I did play in the 750-word thing earlier this year, but I banged those stories out in an evening for the fun of it.

When I was working we had some deadlines, but they were invariably squishy because they were integrations of a lot of complex pieces sourced by several entities. Basically, herding cats. Any deadline was artificial, anyway, basically of the "it would be nice if we had it by X" variety.

 

[SimonDoom]

You no doubt wish you'd never made that New Year's Resolution in whatever year it was, because you know I'll never forget it,.

I do. Utterly foolish. I had a decent year that year but it fell far short of silly expectations, leaving me with a feeling of defeat. This should be fun.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I only write what I feel like writing, and I can't decide first to enter a contest. I enter author challenges or contests when I'm already inspired with a half-written story, and I think it might fit a challenge. So, the deadline is just a hard date which forces me to stop my never-ending editing and tweaking the story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I do. Utterly foolish. I had a decent year that year but it fell far short of silly expectations, leaving me with a feeling of defeat. This should be fun.

Still, you can't finish unless you start, and you seem to have that bit under control. You just need to add "done" to your permanent vocabulary, as well as "doing". But as I say elsewhere, carry on, you'll be fine .

 

[SimonDoom]

Still, you can't finish unless you start, and you seem to have that bit under control. You just need to add "done" to your permanent vocabulary, as well as "doing". But as I say elsewhere, carry on, you'll be fine .

53 stories in 6 years for someone with no prior fiction experience is not too shabby. It's just when I start to make plans that things go off the rails.

 

[Trionyx]

Deadlines? What deadlines? My April Fool’s and Nude Day stories are done except for some editing. Struggling with VD story, however hope to have something within the next few weeks. By working months ahead, deadlines become meaningless.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm a bit similar. I recently had a few months without inspiration beyond yet more plot bunnies. I'd add a sentence to one every now and again.

Suddenly 2 weeks ago an image gave me inspiration for a scene which turned into a story within a couple days, and then I figured how to complete another draft - which it occured to me could meet the criteria for the Winter contest. It's winter, and that's an important part of the plot, anyhow. Just off to spell check and format and post it.

Which will be 49 stories in a bit over 5 years, so not a dissimilar rate.

It's the only contest I'll have entered this year. For all the others, I'm more like Douglas Adams - 'I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.'

 

[SimonDoom]

For all the others, I'm more like Douglas Adams - 'I love deadlines. I feel that amazing whooshing noise as they pass by.'

You can count on Douglas Adams to have the right quip for something like this.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I cut one story short so it could meet the deadline for the 2020 "Love the one you're with" challenge. People noticed the ending was forced.

I now aim at the deadline if I have a good story idea, but if I don't make it, I don't worry. Well, not much...

 

[Bramblethorn]

I love the idea of using contests and deadlines as a way of motivating me to write stories and to get more exposure through participation. But I have to admit, it rarely works for me. I'm a write-when-the-inspiration-comes writer, probably because I'm not getting paid for this, and if I'm stuck on one project, I'll drop it and work on something else if the mood strikes me. I've missed far more contest and event deadlines than I've met. I'm about to miss two more. I'm thinking from now on I should stop broadcasting plans and just be quiet and do what I do and see what happens. Plans and expectations seem to bog me down more than spur me on.

I'm coming up on my six-year Literotica anniversary in a week and I've published 53 stories, which is far, far more than I ever would have expected to publish six years ago, and that feels good. To the extent I've achieved any "success", it has nothing to do with entering contests. In fact, the only two contests I've won or placed in were annual category contests with no pre-publication deadlines.

Does anybody else feel like contest deadlines sometimes become an anchor weighing down one's creativity?

I find it almost impossible to write to event deadlines. My creative process is slow and meandering; usually if I see an interesting event idea, my story's still in early drafts by the time the deadline comes around, if it hasn't drifted away from the topic. I think part of me also chafes at being constrained to the topic even if it's one that interests me.

The two I have entered: one was serendipity, I happened to be in a writing mood with a creepy muse just in time for Halloween. The other was the AI contest, where the deadline was long enough for me to get something out.

 

[KeithD]

The contest criteria and policing of same are quite loose here. You could just write the stories as and when you want and determine later if they fit into a contest theme here.

 

[Thefireflies]

I rarely bother with Contests, because: a) deadlines; b) the seasonal ones are all ass-about-face, me being in Australia; and c) Halloween and Valentine's Day don't mean much to me. Mostly, though, I don't write to any deadline except my own.

I haven’t entered any official contests for pretty much the same reasons as EB states above. I know I could write something reasonable if I cared enough but it doesn't interest me all that much. I do like the author generated challenges where I've had a go at a few, but last year I found myself stressing hard about finishing my Pink Orchid story before I had to concentrate on a real life thing I knew I would clash with my hobby writing (yet here I am procrastinating when I am also supposed to be doing real life things right now…)

 

[yowser]

The contests/challenges cut both ways. On one hand, they can provoke exploration, lead one to try something new and different, sometimes with unexpected results. Without the first Geek Pride challenge I am not sure I would have thought cerebral erotica would have appeal here.

On the other hand, as many have said, the deadlines can create havoc. Once I rushed a story to post on time, and the quality definitely suffered. I've gotten carried away with a theme and written myself into a corner, some of those drafts are still sitting there yelling at me to figure it out and finish up.

I have vowed that if I have a good draft going it is better to wait until the next time around rather than forcing things, but that of course tries my patience.

 

[MetaBob]

I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time this year with a goal of 50K words, which would've been a short novel. I got 33K. I can make the excuse that I was traveling for 11 days that month, but, well ... I definitely fell short. I try to keep Duke Ellington in mind: "I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline." Now I have to work to make sure that my productivity resumes, though of course I will be traveling for a couple weeks this month, too.