Tick Tock, Tick Tock: How to Use Deadlines to Supercharge Your Writing Process

Ever found yourself floating in a sea of ideas?

You experience boundless creativity, limitless energy.

A word here, a sentence there…

It doesn’t matter.

You’re enjoying pure bliss.

And it feels good, so you continue the ride.

The next day, you spend countless hours agonizing over a single paragraph, fiddling with punctuation, swapping out adjectives, only to trash the whole project and start from scratch.

Sound familiar?

Ah, the joy (and frustration) of writing free-form!

Without boundaries, you feel liberated, untethered, like a boat on placid water.

You think you work best this way — without rules or constraints, running on inspiration alone.

Over time, however, the good feelings fade.

And when you look at your progress, you confront an ugly truth:

You wasted time — precious time you’ll never get back.

So, what’s the best solution for taming this wild, meandering writing journey?

A good old-fashioned deadline.

You heard it correctly.

Deadline.

You know the word — the one your parents, teachers, and supervisors harped about, the word you swore you’d never apply to your own creative goals.

Ready for the truth?

Deadlines prevent a host of unnecessary problems, such as procrastination, perfectionism, spinning your wheels without making measurable progress.

A deadline offers you a clear target, a destination for your creative expedition.

And it pushes you forward, too, forcing you to make decisions, to commit words to paper, to turn ideas into stories.

So, what do you say?

Ready to trade that aimless wandering for a roadmap to success?

Read on to discover the transformative power of deadlines.

Deadlines Help You Map Out a Strategy

Many years ago, while studying for my teaching certification, we talked a lot about backward design, the process of designing learning units with the end goal in mind. After settling on a destination with specific learning outcomes, we’d work backwards from the endpoint to flesh out the steps between the end and the beginning.

While the process made sense in theory, it created real-world difficulties for many of us. Try as I may, my brain resisted the backward motion. I didn’t resonate with this subtractive model. My brain had its own way of visualizing progress — in forward motion.

Over time, I discovered the best approach for me. It resembled an old-fashioned road map. From above, I could see the destination and all the roads I’d need to take to get there. Viewing the distance and the size of the roads, I could guess how much time it would take as well as the fuel requirements, tolls, stops for food, restroom breaks, etc.

Deadlines work the same way for writing projects, providing you with an endpoint, giving you power and control over your progress. After deciding on your destination — a novel, a memoir, a short story, etc. — you can map out the steps to get you there.

Deadlines Create Urgency

For some, deadlines seem antithetical to the creative process.

After all, creativity means you’re free to explore at your own pace.

And that’s a good thing, right?

Not so fast.

When it comes to writing or other creative endeavors, deadlines actually enhance creativity, providing urgency that moves the process forward.

Let’s take a look at the count-down effect.

The Count-Down Effect and Productivity

One of the primary ways deadlines create urgency is through the ‘count-down effect’. Like a ticking clock, a deadline reminds writers of the time remaining, creating tangible timelines. This encourages writers to act, as they’re fully aware they must complete their work within the stipulated timeframe.

If you’re a nonfiction writer working on a piece of investigative journalism, you’ll need to conduct research, carry out interviews, analyze your findings, and finally, write and revise the piece. The looming deadline not only instills a sense of urgency but also encourages proactivity and efficiency.

Deadlines Set the Pace, Regulating the Creative Flow

Deadlines also serve to pace the writing process, allowing writers to break down the book project or article into manageable parts. Having a deadline encourages you to set and meet a daily or weekly word count goal. This chunking process makes the project more achievable, less overwhelming, and the urgent nature of a deadline ensures that you consistently meet these smaller goals.

Let’s say you’re a fiction author working on a new novel. Rather than viewing the project as one giant task, you can focus on a scene or a chapter per day. Your deadline ensures you meet these targets, and over time, these small achievements accumulate into a completed manuscript.

Deadlines Help with Decision Making, Streamlining Creative Choices

Another critical aspect of deadlines is how they enhance the decision-making process.

Without a deadline, you could lose perspective in revision, tweaking and adjusting your story without ever feeling satisfied. However, a deadline accelerates decision-making, forcing you to finalize your choices.

If you’re working on a short story, you might struggle with multiple endings. Without a deadline, you could oscillate between options. A submission deadline for a literary magazine forces you to choose and commit to an ending, driving the story to completion.

Deadlines Harness Energy

The sense of urgency created by deadlines also generates a significant amount of energy. Under pressure, your mind finds solutions that might not surface in a relaxed state. This adrenaline-fueled state can spur intense periods of creativity and productivity.

Deadlines are powerful tools in the writing process, create a sense of urgency that encourages proactivity, paces the writing process, streamlines decision making, and even ignites sparks of creativity under pressure.

Deadlines Offer Guardrails

In all forms of writing, deadlines serve as essential guardrails, helping writers avoid problems such as delayed completion, lack of focus, and career-damaging disappointments.

They provide a concrete structure where creativity can flourish, aiding in time management, attention, and professional integrity.

Deadlines Safeguard Completion Timelines

Deadlines ensure the timely completion of your writing projects.

With a definite end date in mind, you can create a roadmap for your work, allotting appropriate time for each stage of the writing process, from research and drafting to revisions and final edits.

Imagine you’re a historical fiction author working on a novel set during the French Revolution.

The research involved is immense, but a looming deadline ensures that you spend your time wisely. You must balance the need for historical accuracy with the need to create engaging characters and plotlines.

Deadlines Enhance Focus

Deadlines improve your focus, promoting disciplined attention and action.

Like any writer, you’re drawn to shiny new ideas and concepts. While attractive and exciting, these new ideas can distract from your work in progress. A deadline, however, serves as a constant reminder of your current priority, reinforcing your commitment to the project.

If you’re a freelance journalist covering multiple stories, the allure of a breaking story might tempt you to set aside a feature article. However, knowing the deadline for the feature article keeps you on track, empowering you to balance attention between the immediate news piece and the longer-term feature.

Deadlines Help Preserve Careers and Reputations

In the professional world, missing a deadline can have dire consequences. Besides tarnishing your reputation, you could lose your contract and miss out on future writing opportunities. Deadlines, therefore, also function as deterrents against these outcomes, encouraging responsibility, compelling you to fulfill your commitments to editors, publishers, and readers.

For example, if you’re a non-fiction writer working on a commissioned biography, you’d be acutely aware of the need to deliver on time. A missed deadline could result in disappointed readers, a frustrated publisher, and a damaged relationship with the biography’s subject. The deadline not only motivates you to complete the work on time but also helps safeguard your professional standing.

Furthermore, a missed deadline can be demoralizing. The feeling of having let yourself and others down can be devastating. Meeting deadlines, therefore, also acts as a self-motivating factor, contributing to your sense of accomplishment and professional fulfillment.

Deadlines Boost Confidence

For most writers, deadlines dial up the pressure. At the same time, these limitations offer hidden benefits. Acting as confidence builders, facilitators of quality work, and supporters of mental health, deadlines become allies, amplifying your writing potential.

The connection between deadlines and confidence seems counterintuitive. However, every honored deadline becomes an accomplishment, a validation of your ability to fulfill commitments. Meeting each deadline, therefore, fosters self-assurance, empowering you to tackle larger, more challenging projects.

Imagine you’re a debut novelist. The monumental task of finishing a full-length manuscript might initially overwhelm you. But as you meet smaller, self-imposed deadlines for chapters or sections, your confidence grows.

Each completed section serves as proof of your capability, encouraging you to press forward. By the time you meet the final deadline, you’ve not only finished a novel but have improved your confidence as a writer.

Deadlines Foster Quality Work

Deadlines are instrumental in coaxing out your best work. With a finite period to complete a project, you need to make every moment count, intensifying your focus and dedication. This heightened concentration leads to deeper insights, sharper stories, and superior final products.

For example, if you’re an investigative journalist working on a major exposé, time constraints would compel you to follow every lead, scrutinize every detail, and craft each sentence with precision. Without a deadline, your sense of urgency and drive might diminish, impacting the quality of your work. The deadline acts as a catalyst, forcing you to produce your best work within the agreed-upon timeline.

Deadlines Safeguard Mental Health

While deadlines can be a source of stress, they also play a crucial role in preserving your mental health. By providing structure and preventing projects from dragging on indefinitely, they minimize the stress and anxiety associated with incomplete tasks. If you find yourself juggling multiple projects, tasks will inevitably pile up. Without proper deadlines, you’re left in a state of flux, causing anxiety, which could lead to burnout.

Deadlines help you prioritize tasks and allocate time effectively, enabling completion. This process of structuring tasks and seeing them through fosters a sense of achievement. This feeling of achievement reduces anxiety and increases well-being. Once you meet your deadline, you can step back and recharge. This helps you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Without these periodic pauses, the boundaries between work and rest can blur, impacting your mental health.

So, how do feel about deadlines?

Hopefully, this article changed your mind.

Despite their surface-level limitations, deadlines help writers in myriad ways.

Now, it’s your turn.

Join the conversation below.