Dare to Deliver
By Cathy Yardley | October 4, 2019 |
Photo by Meal Makeover Moms.
I am a huge fan of restaurants, cooking channels, cookbooks, and chefs. I’m also an eager reader of business productivity books. So when I found Work Clean: The Life-Changing Power of Mise-en-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind, by Dan Charnas, I did a little happy dance and snapped it up.
For those of you who aren’t restaurant junkies and who haven’t worked back of the house, “mise-en-place” (or “meeze”) is the prep work and basic routine that chefs use to manage their time, create their meals, and keep the dishes pumping out of the kitchen in a consistent and orderly fashion.
While restaurant food might be art, there’s a definite rigor there, and with good reason: if you mess up an order, or you take too long, people get hangry. Blood sugar drops and tempers flare.
And they’re right in the next room.
And there’s a chance you won’t get paid.
All bad things, all worth taking steps to avoid. If you want to have a Michelin-star quality restaurant, you absolutely need to have your act together.
The chef must deliver.
Personally, I found a lot of gems in this book as far as productivity and mindset (and some great stories about chefs, if you like that sort of thing.) But this passage in particular struck me like a brick in a sock:
“Remember: Striving for perfection and perfectionism aren’t the same thing. Both the striver and the perfectionist aim toward an ideal. But the striver knows that excellence is not about creating something of the highest quality; it’s delivering something of the highest quality, with all the constraints that delivery entails — deadlines, expectations, contingencies, feedback. The chef cannot tinker forever with a dish: Customers get hungry. Food spoils. The chef must deliver.”
It was a slap in the face. I dropped the book on my desk after reading it, staring at my wall as I pondered the implications.
The difference between creation and delivery.
For a writer, what is delivering?
If you’re pursuing traditional publishing, it means submitting work. That could mean querying an agent or submitting a proposal for editors. It will often mean completing and sending a full, polished manuscript.
If you’re self-publishing, it means completing work, getting it edited, formatting it, packaging it, distributing it. Basically, making it available for sale.
Delivering could also mean promotion: writing blog posts, sending out newsletters, participating in social media.
Now, as a writer, we can “create” for a very long time. Often, if I didn’t have an external deadline providing some much-needed fuel in the form of adrenaline, things could stay in the limbo of “creation” for a long time.
But I am realizing that, as a writer, we do have a duty to deliver. As a traditionally published author, I have deadlines attached to the contracts I sign. As a self-published author, if I don’t set at least a semblance of a publication schedule, it affects my bottom line. If I want to continue as a self-sustaining author, it is crucial that I learn to deliver, on time and to expectation.
What if it’s not ready?
Nancy Johnson recently wrote a wonderful post on this very blog (if you haven’t read it, go do that!) about novels requiring patience, and that good work can’t be rushed. I can agree with a great deal of the article. For beginning writers especially, novels are rarely ready when they think. I’ve seen plenty of authors, especially (and unfortunately) self-published authors, who rushed to release and had a sub-par novel as a result. Or I’ve seen authors who jumped the gun when it came to submitting their first novel to agents, only to lose their shot as they were form rejected, unable to resubmit. Learning the craft, working with others, putting in the work is crucial, and should not be downplayed.
But… what if really is ready?
The thing is, there’s “not rushing” – and then there’s dodging.
You need to check to make sure you’re truly making necessary revisions, or if you’re using revisions as an excuse to avoid delivering your work.
I know that I’ve dodged future projects because I let myself get mired down in self-doubt. It was more comforting to swirl in the eddies of finicky tweaks, or even blow up my story and completely overhaul it, rather than accept what I had and deliver it. Since then, I’ve learned that there’s a difference between being genuinely stuck on specific story elements, and having a generalized fear that the work is terrible and cliché and pointless. The former is something that requires attention and time. The latter only grows the more time it’s given.
It’s a tricky thing to identify. If you’re unsure, give your work to your most trusted critique partner or beta reader, and ask them if they think it’s ready. Also, check in with your emotions. Are you scared when you think of “delivering” your story? If so, dig deeper. What, specifically, are you afraid of? How likely is that fear to pass? How dire are the consequences?
Write like a chef.
Like I said: I am a huge fan of restaurants and chefs. They take something as prosaic as feeding yourself, and they elevate it to a beautiful, luscious, completely encompassing experience. As authors, we’re doing something similar.
There are no guarantees in this business – and yes, it is a business. We can prep. We can work on our craft. We can strive for perfection. But ultimately, we need to deliver… and keep delivering as we learn, improve, and grow.
Now your turn. Do you ever experience fear of finishing? Do you fight the siren call of perfectionism? What can you do to help ensure more consistent delivery?
Cathy Yardley has published over 33 novels, novellas, and serialized fiction, both traditionally and independently. In 2011, she started RockYourWriting.com, with the mission of helping novelists make a living. She has helped hundreds of authors as a developmental editor, writing coach, and through her “plot sessions” – one-on-one calls that get authors from concept to plot points in one hour. She’s also written the Rock Your Writing series of reference books, taking authors through the writing cycle, from concept to completion. Sign up for her newsletter, and you can receive free downloads to help you plot and revise your novel.
This is really great advice Cathy. As both trade and indep. published, I struggle with perfectionism. I’m learning to not let it be the enemy of the good.
I’m tickled by how much great writing advice one can glean from cooking or gardening or even theology books!
Thanks, Vijaya. I’ve wrestled with perfectionism myself, and it’s hard not to let it hamstring you. It always seems so reasonable at the time! As with so many things writing related, the key is always balanced.
And I love getting writing advice from other fields. There is so much overlap! :)
Thanks for commenting!
This sounds like a great book. *puts it on to-read list*
My problem, I’m learning, is that I’m perfectionistic in my plans, wanting to get everything on this schedule that doesn’t really fit with my life. If I just set reasonable expectations of myself, and communicate those expectations with others (very difficult for me), my life becomes much smoother and I find myself delivering consistently and at a level of quality I’m very comfortable with.
That’s a classic problem. In fact, it’s addressed in the book! They have a whole thing on realistic scheduling. I can’t recommend this book enough — I fell in love with it. :)
Thanks for commenting!
Yep, yep and yep. Because of past experiences with procrastination due to fear of finishing, with this current project–when I find myself starting to dawdle over decisions and am not being daily productive–I force myself to make a decision and move on. It’s accompanied by anxiety and I’m learning to remind myself it’s not life or death. If my decision is wrong, I can later fix it. On the other hand, I may be making a good decision. I just need to write the story to find out. I liked this post! Thanks.
Procrastination is definitely how my fear presents itself. I noodle endlessly on the best way to do things, when sometimes the best way is just picking one way and plowing forward — the differences between choices are ultimately inconsequential to the final product. It’s hard to believe that, though, especially when you’re in the thick of it. It sounds like you’ve got a healthy approach to it.
Thanks for commenting!
Hey Coach – Delicious food-for-thought you’ve served up here. Seriously, an analogy that provides wonderful insight.
I’m guessing there may be a few folks who’ve followed me here for a while and wondered if I’m dodging. I’ve been in prep mode for quite some time, after all. Sometime last summer I hit the fifteenth anniversary of my jotting down an idea about a chieftain’s son and his warrior-woman guardian in a jobsite notebook with a carpenter’s pencil. And last June I hit the tenth anniversary of finishing the first trilogy. Get this: I first reached out to you when I still had an AOL email address, lol.
And I guess it depends on how you define delivering. I mean, I’ve been coached, critiqued, and mentored by the very best in the biz (including you). I’ve had an advanced writing class break down one of my openings, rip it to shreds, and then vote on whether or not I should be shot! (Got the reprieve by a whisker, thank the writing gods.) I’ve been rejected by some doozies, too. Heck, I’ve been passed on by some of the legends who’ve brought up the legends in the genre.
In spite of all of that, I was still wondering about that definition, about whether I’m simply not a deliverer… until I got to this: “Are you scared when you think of ‘delivering’ your story?”
That’s when it hit me. I’m not. In fact, I’m the least afraid of it that I have ever been, since that hot day at that jobsite, scrawling with that damn fat pencil.
Reviewing where I stand, I’m guessing many would see my situation as being pretty dog-gone grim—like I ought to realize it’s time to cut bait and find a new fishing hole. Either that or head for port. But working through my current rewrite of my thoroughly-rejected-manuscript, I’m feeling the opposite of grim. Not only am I unafraid of delivering, I feel… empowered. And hopeful.
Thanks, Cathy, for the “fresh” outlook. Here’s to striving and to delivery. Cheers!
Vaughn, my friend! I know it’s been a long and winding road with your masterwork — and it is, indeed, an opus. It would be a shame to the world for you to abandon that baby. And I think you have delivered on the project. You’ve submitted, you’ve gotten feedback, you’ve continued to work even after rejection. (And I must say, I want to kick every one of those “advanced writing class” students right in the keister. For pity’s sake, as writers we have enough problems. You can say what you mean without saying it mean. GAH but that’s another post!) You are one of the hardest working writers I know. And ultimately, only you can know if you’re doing the work, or dodging, and it sounds like you do.
Keep on keeping on, Vaughn. And good luck with your series!
Great post Cathy. I’ve set myself a 90 day challenge to deliver with my current WIP or move on. This manuscript/series has been dogging me longer than I care to admit. Let’s just say I’m giving Vaughan a run for his money.
Challenges can be a fantastic tool to help get past perfectionism and fear. I’m a big fan of NaNo because of it. Good luck with your WIP! :)
Ouch! You hit me where I live. I have all these ideas rattling in my head, sketches of characters, plot lines, character arcs, etc. ad nauseam. And it dawns on me I’ve been trying to work on the entree and dessert simultaneously – which will make neither edible.
Thank you for the kick in the kiester. I’ll work on one dish at a time.