Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

28Deadlines Are the WD-40 of Writing

In Pixar's Toy Story 2, Woody's kidnapper, Al McWhiggin (the owner of Al's Toy Barn), calls The Cleaner to repair Woody when the toy's arm falls off.

Al asks The Cleaner: “So, uh, how long is this gonna take?” And The Cleaner replies: “You can't rush art.” (Which is apparently Pixar's mantra too.)

But forget that mantra. Because at some point, you do have to rush your own art. Otherwise, your art sits on its butt on the couch eating chips and salsa.

However many words you write per day, at some point you've got to be done. Really done. With no going back. “Art is never finished, only abandoned,” as Leonardo da Vinci said.

I'm an endless tweaker, editor, and tinkerer with my own work. I'm also an excellent procrastinator. And that's the thing about writing—a thing both frustrating and awesome. You can always polish. You can always correct. You can always think of ways you could make it better, or more elegant, or more compelling to read.

But here's the only thing that works for me, and for others like me, including marketer Doug Kessler (of Velocity Partners in the United Kingdom), who originally came up with this rule, “Deadlines are the WD-40 of writing.”

So give yourself a hard deadline. And then strictly adhere to it. Be stern with yourself: don't allow yourself to float it further out, or treat it as a mere suggestion, or disregard it entirely.

Do the best work you can by the deadline you've set, and then consider your writing project ...