Are your lines alive or dead?

I know, I’ve had some pretty cryptic titles for my blog posts before, but I reckon this is a good one. I wonder if anyone can figure out what I’m talking about.

Of course, it’s really quite simple. We’re talking about lines that are either alive or dead. Let’s just switch the words around and stick them together. Alivelines or deadlines? Now are you getting it?

Of course, my topic is one that would surely be a favourite for most writers – not. Deadlines.

Most people hate deadlines. I know one of my idols, Douglas Adams, is famous for his inability to meet them (I’m not going to repost the famous quote that we’ve all heard numerous times – even though it is rather good). Deadlines loom up over the horizon like a big dark cloud, ready to engulf us. They put pressure on us, right at the moment when we can least afford it. Who needs deadlines? Do they do anything useful?

Well I’m going to put myself out on a limb here. I actually rather like deadlines. I find that they help add structure to my work. They give me goals to work towards. Hey, I even like to add multiple deadlines to any project I’m working on, in order to guide me towards my main goal. Without deadlines, I reckon a lot of the time my work would just be an unstructured mess.

Okay, I do admit I don’t always keep to them. Maybe there’s just a little lag here or there. I suppose this is where I can get back to the original title of my post. If my deadlines are not so strict that I can adjust them accordingly, then are they actually dead? Maybe that means that there’s a little life in those lines. Maybe, rather than being deadlines, they actually are the aforementioned alivelines.

So, if I return to the original question (Are my lines alive or dead?) I think the answer is pretty clear. My lines are definitely alive. In a complex, shifting world, it’s important that I don’t put too much pressure on myself and I allow my lines to shift around if I need to. But I wouldn’t like to give my lines too much life. I can’t have them constantly moving around at random. I still need that element of structure in my life.

So, that leads to the end of another (possibly rambling) post. Till next week, whether your lines are dead or alive, I hope they’re all good lines.