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Living to Deadline
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Writers’ Routines to Nurture Creative Work and Healthy Longevity

Routines can enrich creative productivity and energy for writers and speakers and anyone seeking healthy longevity going forward in their lives
Life Interruptions and the Call for New Routines

small changes towards an energy and productivity boosting routine, one step, one word at a time Less than 8 years into the launch of my writing career and public relations practice, I had to deal with divorce and, on its stress-bound heels, a diagnosis of chronic illness. Both came with fatigue and frustration. In today’s post, we explore the care and feeding of writers with the practical routines that sustain us into our senior health and working years. We’ve looked at some rituals of writing. So, now we continue with some of the habits of living strong, independent, and creative lives, up until life’s ultimate deadline.

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Dark Side of Deadlines

defining the deadline for writer and in life

Deadlines: Are they a pressure or a productivity assist for you?

In the last post, we defined deadlines and agreed on their value. They help us get things done. I always tell people to give creatives, in particular, a deadline. Where their mind goes without one will be the stuff of a future post. Today, we explore the dark sides of deadlines, and there are many.

Ways to work with deadlines

I tackle deadline stress and success through the lens of my greatest body of experience – 40 years of writing for the communications and public relations needs of clients in varied industries and work settings. It yielded a great deal of observation that has been useful.

Like many folks, I can often have more clarity and certainty in my work life than navigating even my ‘pro-level’ personal phases.

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What Is a Deadline and How It Applies to Living to Deadline

defining the deadline for writer and in life

Let’s explore the accepted definitions of “Deadline”

 What Is a Deadline, Really?

defining the deadline for writer and in life Traditionally, a deadline is defined as a time or date by which something must be completed. But the origin of the term is much darker. It came from American Civil War prisons, where a “dead line” marked the boundary prisoners could not cross without being shot. From literal life-or-death consequences, it evolved into something more psychological—yet still stressful—applied to the world of publishing, journalism, and the arts.

Today, a deadline is a finish line. A marker of commitment. A line in the sand between “someday” and “done.”

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Happy Canada Day to the Nation of Canada and all its owners

Canada Day Celebrations

158th Canada Day celebrations abound in the land. From Vancouver, on one of the 3 oceans that border the country, I listen to the radio coverage by our official national broadcaster, CBC. The rest of the country is beyond my southern exposure patio door. Drapes are drawn to keep my space cooler and protected from … Read more

Habits rewired: Nighttime Routine Eating, Reading, Lighting

woman in graphic with sunset behind her leaping between hilltop to show: Best intentions to leap into better health and more energy in 2025 with food and sleep timing

Tonight, 1/11/25, I stopped eating at 6:30 and then found one tiny piece of sourdough, which I defrosted to have with some topping, making for a satisfying, non-sweet chew after a soup and salad dinner.

Janus, the god of endings, beginnings and transitions
  • Wow, I couldn’t even get to the end of my first sentence in this New Year declaration before I realized I was already breaking the rules.

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