Hey readers!
I have a bit of a confession to make… and I normally wouldn’t share this, BUT it is funny, and a lesson to be learned.
This past weekend, I spent Friday afternoon and most of Saturday riding horses and pretending like school didn’t exist. I really just needed a little time to spend away from school and focusing on something else before I went stir-crazy. The way I look at it is that if we devote all week to school, we deserve a bit of time to do something just for us. I did however know that I was going to be spending a good portion of my time on Sunday doing homework for the upcoming week.
Sometime over the weekend, I skimmed through my calendar, and noticed that I a manuscript due highlighted for Monday(Oct 10). The manuscript was due for Novel Writing, a class I am taking for fun, and was supposed to be 20 to 25 pages in length in order to represent a substantial part of the first several chapters of a novel.
Before this weekend, I hadn’t begun working on my novel. I had ideas floating through my head on what I wanted to write about and where the story might go, but never got anything onto paper. So, Sunday I hit the panic button, realizing that I had all of those pages to write Sunday and between classes Monday afternoon. When I sat at my computer I cried… I had no idea how I was going to get it done and get it done well, and to add to my stress- the story was not coming easily.
I was wrestling with myself in my head to get a decent story out all day Sunday through the afternoon on Monday. With a bundle of determination, I managed to piece together an 18 page manuscript. Was I happy with it? No. I wasn’t proud of the writing I had done, BUT it was done, and that was the best I could do at the time.
After I printed a copy for each student that would be workshopping my work, I made my way over to the class room and tried to relax. When it came time to distribute manuscripts, I pulled out my stack, as did two other students. Wait. Wait. Wait… That’s three people with manuscripts when we should only be workshopping two manuscripts. One of the girls pulls out a syllabus, and wouldn’t you know it, my manuscript isn’t due until the 24th!! All off that stress didn’t have to happen and I could have taken more time to write that manuscript, so that I might actually like it.
Where are the lessons in all this you might ask?
- Double check the dates of assignments. I would have never freaked out over that assignment if I had been able to preplan correctly and not do it all last minute.
- Don’t wait until last minute to do a big assignment. Sure, I was working on a last minute deadline that didn’t really exist, but I learned my lesson. I don’t want to go through that stress if I can avoid it.
Hope you guys enjoyed my little story, and let it be a reminder about checking dates and procrastination!
(Oh, and by the way, I love the phrase “Whoopsie-Daisy!” I have a friend that uses it and I laugh every time to hear a cowboy saying such a silly little phrase!)