Whenever

I posed a very specific question to a writing buddy yesterday - What in the world do you do with asignments that the editors tell you can be turned in "whenever."
I have four of these - a collection of ideas editors loved, but told me they don't give deadlines. "Just get them to me when you get it," or "Whenever I get it is fine."
That's like a death nail for the idea coffin. Some of these have been on my "to do" list so long, it's embarrassing. In a deadline driven profession, for people who take as many assignments as they can so they can meet or exceed their income goals, these "whenever" assignments get placed to the bottom of the pile each week. They are replaced by assignments that *have* to be done.
I was glad my writing buddy told me the same thing happens with her when she gets these types of ambiguous assignments.
But she did have a good idea that expanded on setting my own personal deadline and that's to email the editors and let them know when the article will arrive.
I'm going to try that next week. Hopefully, that will help clear my "to do" list of these ideas that once upon a time, I thought were good.