Just about every time a deadline approaches, I am faced with a multistep process when it comes to creating my next Odyssey article.

1. Panic.

No matter how far ahead of time I may start an article, I almost always am racing against the clock to meet the next deadline. I am proud to say that I have only missed one deadline in the midst of all of the different submission deadlines we have had.

2. Search our community Odyssey page for article ideas.

I have had several articles where I came across the ideas from Michael Nocella's article ideas. I can find several potential ideas I can write about from these ideas.

3. Start a handful of articles, but never finish most of them.

I have a bad habit of starting a small number of projects, or in this case, articles, and finishing one or two. My writer's dashboard has a considerable amount of barely started articles which I will typically delete sometime later.

4. Watch YouTube videos.

One thing I would rather do than do anything useful is watch YouTube videos. I watch video game-related YouTube videos. There is something rather enjoyable about watching YouTube videos for an extended period of time.

5. Look at the clock, over and over again.

I almost always, if not always, have to work at some point of the day an article submission happens to be due. With about every deadline being in the middle of a work shift, I have to submit the article before starting my shift to send the article promptly.

6. Finally, start an article from beginning to end.

Eventually, I will start an article and type more than 100 words. When writing a listicle, I also have to keep in mind how many points I have so I know whether I need to find images for each of my points. Searching for pictures for the article itself, can sometimes more of a daunting task than finding a suitable cover photo.

7. Keep an eye on the word count.

In one's mind, 500 words may not seem like a lot of words to put in an article. However, as you proceed with typing your piece, you realize just how difficult it can sometimes be to write between 500 to 2000 words. Depending on the topic of the article, it can be easier or harder.

8. Find A Cover Photo.

Before using Pexels, I was primarily using Google and Bing for pictures to use as my article's cover photo. I am sure many of you fellow writers can agree with me on how frustrating it can be to find a good cover photo that also meets the minimum size requirements. Fortunately, after using Pexels, I have yet to have any significant issues finding a suitable cover photo for my pieces.

9. Scheduling.

I learned early on that different individual Odyssey communities do some things differently. One person, I know who wrote for Odyssey at her former college would schedule articles to be published as soon as possible. Meanwhile, our group schedules articles to go live at a specific date and time.

10. Submit and wait.

Once an article is done, now comes the time to submit the piece for editing. I have this mindset that everything I do when it comes to submitting articles and homework assignments, that most of my submissions are terrible. Fortunately, for the most part, I have positive feedback from some of my pieces and my homework assignments are typically graded higher than I had anticipated.

11. Edit The Article.

Usually, my articles, fortunately, have consisted of minimal errors which my CE will handle and pass it along to our EIC. If it were not for resources such as Grammarly, I would likely have more errors in my article.

12. Read Finished Article Once It Goes Live.

Once my article goes live, I cannot wait to see the finished product. Now to breathe a sigh of relief, that is, until the next deadline approaches.