deadlines

Sundog Rising!

Reflections on living the life literary by the Urban Sundog

Real and Imaginary Deadlines

One of the great advantages of being dead is that you’re finally existing outside of time. You’re absolutely free of the incredible burden of being conscious of the inevitability of the next moment, and the attendant anxiety concerning being aware something’s expected of you. In other words: no more deadlines, real or imaginary.

So it’s curious that we grant the necessity of having to have something done by a certain time that particular term: deadline. The only time you’re completely free of deadlines is, ironically, when you’re dead.

Makes you wonder about the etymology of the word. Makes me wonder anyway, so I did some research. Seems it comes from a Civil War term — such a rich period for language that was, giving us “sideburns” and “hookers” too — although not necessarily hookers with sideburns — regarding where it was safe for prisoners to walk in a stockade. If a prisoner crossed a certain line, a guard would shoot him dead. This got adapted into American newspaper jargon around 1920, meaning “time limit”. If you didn’t get your work in on time, you were obviously a “dead man”. And thus free of deadlines forevermore, as I originally observed.

So there is a connection. Sort of.

Outside of a job featuring distinct time constrictions, I would argue any deadline as such is essentially arbitrary. For one thing, is anyone really going to shoot you if you don’t get the work done on time? All my deadlines are presently set by only one person — me. And I wouldn’t touch a gun with a ten foot pole, so I think I’m pretty safe to work for.

That doesn’t stop me from setting deadlines for myself, though.

Right now, I’m looking at this list:

Finish drafting Reality Fiction Four by September 4th, finish editing Confucius Takes a Lover by August 27th — coincidentally my wedding anniversary, something else I better not forget — finish plotting The Devil Is In Retail by October 4th, write 4 more Urban Sunblogs by October 1st, start editing Suspicious Pines September 21st, continue typing Reality Fiction Four into the computer September 21st, send Sticks, Stones and Breaking Bones to a new publisher if I don’t hear from the one it’s currently with by the end of the year …

Do I really have to do any of this? No. Do I want to? Yep. Is anyone holding a gun to my head to make sure I do? Nope — but I do perceive benefits to my existence if I follow through on these plans.

It’s good to have something to work towards. Gives shape and meaning to your life. Plus you can look back at the end of it and say, wow, I really accomplished something. And that is something we should do more of in life, rather than always only worrying about what comes next.

Because the deadline is never the true reality in any of these cases. It’s what you actually do to meet the deadline that counts.

That’s living, with someone pointing a gun at you or not.

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Photography by Renee Beaubien, at Beyond the Prism

on Flickr, at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128997372@N08/

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Coming Event! Grindcore Madness!

A music documentary by Dylan Baillie

And when he’s not shooting metal mayhem, he shoot food videos with his father.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7--BpmTUF5s

John Baillie

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REALITY FICTION AND BEYOND!

The Big Mosquito continues, with postings number 6 and 7 of 49, Monday August 24th and Friday, August 28th. As always, at:

http://realficone.blogspot.ca/

The morning after the party the night before, and intrigue on the film set.

Featuring:

10.   back at the Marquee

11.   don’t call the cops, they’ll call you

12.   sound and light

Sink Decomposition Series

by Fandango Moberly

#8 of 50

Holiday Schedule:

Next Instalment — 7 of 49: Friday, August 28th

8 of 49: Monday, August 31st

9 of 49: Wednesday, September 2nd

10 of 49: Friday, September 4th

11 of 49: Monday, September 7th

12 of 49: Friday, September 18th

13 of 49: Monday, September 21st

14 of 49: Wednesday, September 23rd

15 of 49: Friday, September 25th

then back to two a week until the end of the book.