Does setting deadlines help your creative writing?

While sometimes dreadful and inconvenient, deadlines are often jokingly referred to as “the greatest inspiration”. Looking back at my first year at Warwick, there never seemed to be ‘the right time’ to write my essays until the deadline was just around the corner… probably not a coincidence. Since having clear and unmovable deadlines for essay writing always ensured that I would get my essays done, it only seemed natural to do the same when I decided to explore creative writing.

Long story short, I managed to write a 20,000 word novel in just a month. I achieved this as part of the NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) initiative. NaNoWriMo is a fantastic project that encourages authors of all ages to write, by providing them with a book writing platform, writing resources, and inspiration to keep going. Although the resources are available all year, the initiative is centred around the month of November – the month in which all authors are challenged to set a clear word count goal and complete it before the month ends. 

One of its best features is the visual representations of your progress. These include the number of words written, word count that you need to write today, and your daily writing streak. When completing the challenge, my favourite thing about these statistics was the blend of big and small goals. The fact that I could see my word count increase with every minute of writing made me feel accomplished, and the day streak reminded me of how far I’ve come. 

To read the full article on theboar.org, click here