Dear Writer, This is Why You Need a Deadline

Meeting deadlines can feel therapeutic

Sure, not therapeutic like a spa day or a yoga class, but therapeutic in the sense that you’ve made your writing goal feel more tangible, more real. There’s something very satisfying about that when you’re navigating a creative, complex project. As Piers Torday explains, it makes writing feel as important as filing your tax return, albeit far more artistically stimulating...

Douglas Adams famously said, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise as they fly by.” But if I’m honest, I love deadlines because I love the sound of thundering hooves as they approach. Nothing makes you focus more on work than a deadline — even when, in publishing, they are never real (as opposed to a court date or tax bill) and all come with built-in contingencies, they do come with very real incentives such as money, professional reputation, and your relationship with your editor. Editorial relationships are built on trust, and that cuts both ways.

The best thing about a deadline is that it has the same adrenal effect on making stuff up for a living as a contract or royalty statement — this is a job as well as a creative act, and sometimes I need to hear that good and loud.
— Piers Torday, bestselling author and writing coach

Setting your own deadlines could end up being empowering

Whether it’s writing daily or trying different deadlines for different stages, each writer will likely find a different route works best for them as they iron out their priorities. Emylia Hall looks at deadlines almost like a workout partner, giving her the motivation to sprint ahead.

I see the pressure of my deadlines as a privilege. In my ongoing crime series, I publish two novels a year, and I feel very lucky to have a publisher who is so full of enthusiasm and strategy. That gratitude casts a glow over the whole endeavor. If I thought that either the quality of my work, or my enjoyment in the process, was suffering, then I’d be waving my white flag. I can’t bear the thought of being slapdash, or unhappy in my writing process. So far, though, I feel like the deadlines are bringing out the best in me (which is not the same as saying that I find them easy). I’m much more organized and interrogative in my approach than I used to be.

Writing feels as soulful to me as it ever has. And I’ve found that momentum is everything. The silver lining of never really stopping is that you never have to struggle to start again! And while I’m not competitive with others (unless it’s sport — if it’s sport, watch out!), I am competitive with myself, and I like rising to a challenge, and seeing my mettle tested. Before I was published, I still loved timing plans and setting myself deadlines for projects. I appreciated the structure and discipline, amid the wild and free pursuit of novel writing. I think I found it both grounding and motivational. I still do.
— Emylia Hall, bestselling author and writing coach

Different genres of books might need different sorts of writing deadlines

Depending on what type of story you’re looking at, you may need to amend your deadlines based on the type of novel you’re writing. Historical fiction author Heather Webb raises a salient point...

Writing historical fiction to deadline is hell! I vastly prefer taking my time, researching, layering, and layering some more in my edits. Ultimately, though, I think of deadlines as a good problem to have. It means I have a contract or lots of movement in my career happening in the right direction, so I try not to complain about them too much.
— Heather Webb, bestselling author and writing coach

Deadline management needs to be... manageable!

There is a bizarre phrase called “eating the frog” that a lot of people swear by when it comes to setting their day-to-day tasks. The metaphor essentially means: identify the task you’d least like to do first (such as, in this case, eating a frog), prioritize it, and then you are free to use the rest of your day on things that are perhaps kinder to your mind, allowing you to produce your best work under less pressure.

I like achievable, flexible deadlines. If it’s a very tight deadline without a lot of wriggle room, I find I start to panic and rush, which then creates more work for myself. Other times, I get so anxious about the impending deadline, I can freeze entirely. I am pretty steady in terms of hours spent working on a draft, but the output can shift radically day to day. I used to struggle with sometimes overpromising what I thought I could deliver, and learned to add a lot of buffer because life happens, and books always prove a bit trickier than you expect.

I do the Pomodoro Technique and track my progress (both words and time spent). I recently learned about “eating the frog,” which I enjoy partly because it's a horrible mental image, but it’s the idea of starting your day with the most time-sensitive task that will take you a good 1–4 hours to do. Do that first, before all the little things like email and admin and things that are important, but not as important as the thing that requires you at your freshest.
— L.R. Lam, bestselling author and writing coach

Set realistic deadlines when you start writing

If you set deadlines, there are many ways to make them feel more reasonable. After all, they’re self-imposed! You’re in charge! Regularly review and adjust your task list, and find small must-win tasks for each day. As Mahsuda Snaith says, don’t let your deadlines make you feel like a failure. Whether it’s a short story, poetry, or prose, creative writing (especially in the beginning) can be fiddly to get right, so make sure to give your work the breathing space.

Deadlines have been crucial to me, even before I got published and also when I’ve been out of contract. I give myself mini-deadlines by timing my writing (not quite the Pomodoro Technique, but my own tweaked version). I give myself daily deadlines of working through particular chapters or things that need to figured out in the novel. These may have to be pushed over two days (sometimes three, because if writing is anything, it’s unpredictable). I give myself big deadlines for finishing drafts with a solid date, usually before a holiday so I’m really motivated to not have any loose ends before I have a break.

The break also doubles up as a reward for hitting that deadline — win, win. But within that longer deadline I make sure to keep things flexible with my daily and weekly deadlines so that I don’t feel like a failure if things don’t go to plan. Deadlines are only useful if they don’t make you feel like a failure! I suggest being flexible with them and yourself when writing a novel and rewarding yourself when you hit them. Rewards are one of the most important things in keeping me writing, not for the reward themselves, but for marking the progress I’ve made.
— Mahsuda Snaith, award-winning author and writing coach

Certain concentration apps, books, and tools can help with managing deadlines

How did the likes of Dickens and Shakespeare manage to meet writing deadlines without little Pomodoro tomato timers and concentration apps, we wonder? Nonetheless, we live in a time where we are blessed with many modern tools to help us become more productive, or do away with pesky distractions.

For Andrea Stewart, she found that a particular app inspired her to write more prolifically, and discovered she actually really likes deadlines as a result. Who doesn’t love a mini serotonin boost via the medium of digital friends, cheering you on inside your phone?

I love a good deadline! There’s a part of me that really enjoys the intense focus that’s necessary to meet tight deadlines. At the same time, there’s balance to be found in everything, and having the chance to really sink into a world and its characters is just as necessary as putting words down on the page. When I’m on deadline, I tend to split the time between lackadaisical daydreaming and high-output word count. I use [the productivity app] Focus Friend to write in 45-minute sprints, which is the right amount of time for me to gain momentum and not burn out.
— Andrea Stewart, bestselling author and writing coach

There are several books that provide advice on navigating your own deadlines or simple time management for your whole life, a few examples including Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy and Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte.

You can discover more productivity hacks over at this blog.

So, what have we learned? That you can set goals within your writing projects without the world imploding! But it’s important to develop your own style for tackling deadlines that works for you, and remember that there’s not necessarily an easy way to do it, but there is always your way. And we never thought this would involve thinking about frogs so much.

The Big Write Challenge 2026 could be the ultimate deadline-defeater

Starting September 8, The Big Write Challenge helps The Novelry members finish their draft by Christmas. This is our annual sprint. How’s that for a deadline?

Here’s how The Big Write Challenge helped our writers last year, if you’re interested in joining the fun this month.

Helpful for ADHD

I participated in The Big Write Challenge last year and I finished my book. It was everything that I needed. The community, everyone writing together... I have ADHD and I basically had a community full of buddies that sat alongside me to get to the finish line.
— Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author

Achieving “Flow State”

What I loved about doing The Big Write was the support from other writers. Getting into Flow when I’m writing a book has really helped when I know what my goals are going to be every day. I’m so excited to finish a draft this year with The Big Write, just like I did last year.
— Alice Kuipers, award-winning author

Bite-sized daily lessons

They make it all so approachable with bite-sized daily lessons you can fit into your schedule that get you to the finish line one step at a time.
— Brianna Swan, The Novelry member

A proper support network

It is a very kind and supportive group of writers from all over the world cheering each other on. It’s really fantastic.
— Andrea Gabriel, The Novelry member

Extra accountability

It was so fun to have that extra accountability and to write with my writers that I coach and to be able to share all the joys and frustrations of the first draft.
— L.R. Lam, bestselling author and writing coach

If you’re enrolled in The Big Write Course or The Finished Novel Course, you’re invited to join this special run of events alongside your regular lessons. With our editors and a friendly horde of fellow writers behind you, a finished draft by December is closer than you think.

• Ready to write? → Join us on The Big Write Course
• Need the full journey? → Take The Finished Novel Course

The Novelry offers expert guidance and one-to-one support from bestselling authors and Big Five editors, alongside a vibrant network — taking writers from first idea to a finished, submission-ready novel. Join the fiction writing school for novelists. Start writing and see which course is right for you.