Writer Wednesdays: Blizzards, School Closings and Deadlines

It's been quite the busy week here in the Northeast, what with the Big Blizzard Thing and all. I'm telling you, the Groundhog screwed up and annoyed Mother Nature with his prediction earlier this month. I feel like a disbelieving Bill Murray, insisting that the storm won't hit here. But it did.

This is not spring. And there is more snow coming tonight. And tomorrow.

Puppy loved the white-out conditions. All the people without power on Cape Cod (most of the Cape) didn't love it quite so much. My house was only out for a short period during the first night, when we were snuggled in bed anyway. It screwed up my computer, but not much else. Well, that's not true. Schools were closed. And some are still closed as the buildings suffered damage or are still being used as emergency shelters for those without power. So as a sidebar note, the storm wrecked the end of basketball seasons for two of my kids, missing games Friday, Monday, Tuesday and today that won't be made up - at least they each have one game remaining.

With the computer down and the kids home from school and sports.... I didn't get any writing done this week. Practically None. I'm on my third new paragraph on the WIP I wanted to have finished by the end of this month. Now I feel I'll be lucky to have the first draft finished by the end of the month.

I'm all about deadlines. Even though this is an "internal" deadline I set for myself, it's making me crazy to let it slip. I'm planning to spend today writing like a fiend to try and catch it all up and get those last 20-30,000 words onto the page. (Yeah right. No, it could happen...) I'm giving myself until Friday, and my son's last home game at 5 p.m. to get it done. Because next week is school vacation week...

What do you do when external forces mess up your writing schedule? Are you deadline oriented or go-with-the-flow? Any good tips for working around snowstorms and children?