Nix Monday Writing Deadlines?
August 28, 2007 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
Contract worker has an entry that suggests freelance writers and editors should avoid having writing and editing deadlines fall on a Monday. The main reason is to avoid working on weekends – always a good idea in my book.
I think there’s another reason too, and that’s you’re not as likely to get your client’s attention on a Monday as you are other days of the week. Of course, this is a generalization, mostly aimed at the corporate workweek. But even those of us who freelance are likely to have a load of busy work on Mondays, particularly if we’ve taken the weekend off.
It’s likely to be even worse for your client. And you do want your client’s attention when it comes to deadlines. They need to be paying attention to get you paid if the project is complete, or to reply with helpful feedback if the deadline is an interim one.
So set your deadlines for something other than Mondays; your working life will be smoother for it.
Write well and often,
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Yeah that’s true. Corporate clients are usually busy settling down into their productive rhythm, or just trying to accept the reality that it’s time to work again. ;)
and many non-corporate types, me included, tend to expect and therefore experience a heavy workload on mondays
I agree, Mondays are not good deadline days. First of all, as you mentioned, you will probably have to work the weekend to get the job finished on time.
Second of all, I like to reserve Monday mornings for weekend catch up and establishing the week ahead, schedule-wise.
If given a choice, I’d probably prefer a Thursday deadline. It is later in the week and it isn’t Friday. Friday deadlines are usually a.m. as people want to get away or do something else in the p.m.
I don’t like Fridays either, come to think about it… Tues, Wed. or Thrus… those are my choices.