Mailbox Pages, Pressure, and the Writing Seesaw

I try to be a disciplined writer. That is to say, I try to write something daily.  Something on a story page. Blog posts don't count.That part works most of the time. When I'm in danger of falling off the discipline wagon is when I'm near the middle of a large project and my self-doubt is reaching tsunami proportions. In recognition of this seemingly inevitable stage, a colleague and I agreed to serve as each other's "mailboxes" for pages from a work in progress.We decided on an arbitrary deadline (the 5th of each month) by which to send each other approximately 30 pages apiece. If we didn't receive pages in any given month, we'd send gently nagging emails.When a mailbox sender's working draft got completed, we agreed, it was completely optional for the mailbox recipient to  read it and offer comments. No pressure at all, right?Six months later, my colleague, who is obviously more disciplined than I am, completed her draft. I read it. It was wonderful. Not finished but filled with good energy and story and brimming with character. I wrote my comments, sent them off and got back to work. She said I was right on track--she might not necessarily agree with all my suggestions but my reading of the draft gave her lots to work with, which is the whole point. I felt validated as a reader which is always good for my writing confidence.As for my draft, travel intervened. And teaching. I went to Kindling Words East, which kindled the fire for my novel right back up. I longed to get back to this work. What I didn't have were enough hours in the day. Then, predictably, the doubts began to creep in. Had I packed too much into the novel? Should I go back and take out a subplot or two? Was it even a middle grade? This is a slippery slope.My semester began. The picture book intensive kicked in. My reading started piling up. I'd sent in my February 5 mailbox pages in January, anticipating the crunch, but March 5 now loomed. It felt impossible.I wrote a picture book draft. That's always a nice break from a novel.  But somehow, I couldn't go back to my mailbox pages.I asked my kindly mailbox for a hiatus. A couple of months, I said. I'll have to set the novel aside. How about I resume in May? She agreed. This is a no-pressure agreement, right? All about mutual support and respect for our work.Then something odd happened. Right after I'd hung up the phone, I fired up Scrivener and got right back into the novel. Right into the messy middle. That evening, I wrote a couple of new scenes. Not 30 pages, granted. More like 10. But I was off and running again. Just the thought of not having to meet this (completely flexible, erasable, voluntary) deadline unfettered my creative impulse and allowed me to move ahead. And so the seesaw goes.