There's a large and lengthy project that I'm working on that's not of my own devising. It's paying the bills, but it is, frankly, one of the most tedious things I've ever had to do.

I'm not someone who manages well with enforced tedium. In retail, back in the old days, the boredom didn't bother me overly as my mind was free to imagine and create in my head, and nobody really minded if I jotted down the odd idea or jewellery sketch on the back of the used-up receipt paper. But when the tedium requires just enough of my brainpower that I can't zone out like that, I'm not exactly Happycat.

It was getting to a critical stage - the tedium of this neverending project (and I'm not exaggerating, it's a project that will continue until somebody goes out of business) was driving me absolutely positively bonkers, and I was counting down the days until I could graciously bow out of the project altogether, trading money for some retention of sanity. And then...

I was given a hard deadline for a milestone of the project, in the not-too-distant future. It's a deadline that, in fact, I'm pretty sure we can't meet. Not with any real level of quality control. But that's not the point.

The point is: with an external deadline, the tediousness faded into the background. With an artificial endpoint (even though the project actually continues after this milestone), there was a goal, something to aim for, something to look forward to. The entire process became easier, despite the fact that we'll be working harder to meet the deadline.

Maybe this is just the achievement junkie in me, but this is a trick that I think can extend to a lot of other things - finishing drafts, for one thing. Yes, you don't really know how long a draft or an edit will take, things happen that extend or shorten the story as you go, and some chapters are unworkoutable for weeks at a time. But you can still make a hard deadline.

There is, of course, the problem of making it matter. I've had deadlines for my writing before. The only ones I've ever paid attention to were ones that had external submissions - my writing group, my assignments, competition dates. Internal deadlines are thrown out the window as soon as Life fills its litter tray. There are a number of solutions to that. Like writing it in bigger letters on my calendar and really meaning it this time (Yeah, right). Or telling other people - publicising your goal, and your progression towards it can help you stay on track. But it can also reward you for work not done - recent studies show that we get almost as much reward from telling people we're going to do something as actually doing it.

My new plan - use your own life to make your deadlines. For example, as a teacher, there are periods during the year when my working weak jumps to 70 hours or so. These are not good weeks to write. I'm also planning an extended holiday in January and February, where I won't necessarily have easy access to my work. That makes these points in time natural deadlines - hard lines in the sand that I can't change, that I can use to my advantage. Work out what I think I can get done by then, add a little more, and that's my deadline.

Making smaller milestones toward your deadline also helps. Not just the whole draft by December 31, but the end of Act 2 by November. Or Chapter 6 by October. Chapter 3 by this week.

Break it down into small deadlines - deadlines that are tight, so you'll actually work (a deadline that doesn't squeeze you a little will give you excuses to slack off) but not so tight you'll give up with "oh, I never could have made that anyway.". When you make a deadline, celebrate it. If you miss it, tough break but you still have to make the next one. (Unless you miss it by miles, in which case it might be time for a schedule revision).

Sometimes life takes over your writing - make those times work for you.