Every writer knows this fear. The deadline is approaching and you haven't even begun writing your piece. It's not because you don't want to, it's simply because you just cannot find the time.
Writers are always prone to be overly busy with projects -- it might be the existential fear that is programmed into their minds (that is, if they are not Stephen King), as they often times do not know where the next project will come from. So to fight the fear of never ever being booked again, they accept multiple projects -- usually at the same time. Multi-tasking is an essential task for a writer -- it's not to say other people do not multi task but it's a distinguishing characteristic for a writer. Juggling writing assignments and fighting deadlines is the daily grind. There are far more writers that work to be able to write -- writing does not yet support them financially, so their source of income is a regular, daily job. This of course puts another pressure point on top of meeting deadlines. Writing after finishing your day at your "other" job comes with having to be creative after you've already put in a day's work.
Of course there are techniques you can use -- we all know about creating a work schedule and plan, setting milestones and that sort of thing. Sometimes deadlines can even produce the best writing ever -- but in reality, mostly it doesn't. It's a nice romantic idea, but usually time limits and frames put so much pressure on a creative mind, it's paralyzing to the point of complete halt -- writer's block. If you are looking for basic advice on managing deadlines and dealing with them analytically beforehand, have a look at Martha Carr's Writer's Digest article on writing on a deadline here. This is a great and simple guide that can help you before actually starting a project, or determining if it's even worth accepting. Another great set of rules can be found over at The Red Ink.
Another type of person that is very familiar with working with deadlines and coping with such is -- a student. Their time pressuring constructs might look a bit different, but the term "student" and the concept of deadlines go hand in hand in most of our minds. Especially if one is not used to writing, composing pieces and documents can be quite tedious and something fewer and fewer students are prepared to deal with. Where the internet was rather dangerous and risky at first (e.g. talking about plagiarizing and downright copying paragraphs and whole texts off it), a new development has set in. The approach has changed, and this will be an interesting new step into the future of writing regarding specifically with composing pieces for an assignment.
New smart and clever ideas have emerged, and business platforms have evolved into a new and serious option for university students. Instead of them contemplating committing a crime, platforms now enable them to gain additional research material in order to at least create a basis for their own composing and writing. Services such as Edusson are growing fast in supporting qualified writers and offering research data and information without actually completing your assignment -- which should stay your task. Platforms like this can solely actually help with deadlines in taking over an assistant role -- enabling the writer to use pre-researched material.
This could very well be the future -- and a smart and intelligent way of helping with deadlines. Eliminating them will probably never happen, not with any technology -- but can remain as the last romantic idea of writers.