Deadlines are the solution.
In a perfect world, no writer would ever get stuck, be stumped or get sucked into the black hole that is the internet. We would sit down, the muse would descend and we’d produce literary magic, but this world is far from perfect. We get stuck, stumped and sucked in by hyperlinks.
On this site, you will find a monthly short story deadline and a monthly poetry deadline. Join the challenge now and find out more about writing 12 Short Stories in 12 Months and writing 12 Poems in 12 Months.
Can you write a novel in year? We will be writing and submitting one scene per week for 52 weeks.
If you have always dreamed of writing a novel or if you have several incomplete manuscripts languishing in your drawer or if you need some extra help and accountability, well, this challenge is just for you.
This challenge started in 2017. Since then hundreds of writers have completed the challenge and earned their #braggingrights. This is an active, kind and vibrant community of writers. They’re also pretty good at short story writing.
You will receive a prompt with a specific word count. Your story is posted on the site on the day of the deadline. You post one story and comment on four.
In 2019, we tried writing 12 poems in 12 months for the first time and we’ve been writing every month since then. Can you write 12 poems in 12 months?
You will receive a prompt and a deadline every month. Sometimes it’s free verse, sometimes it’s not. You post one poem and comment on four.
What the writers said
Linda Sansalone
I started Deadlines for Writers shortly after the Pandemic started. I’ve always had a passion for writing and feeling depressed and having nowhere to go but being stuck at home I searched on the internet for writing possibilities.
I found Mia Botha’s Deadline for Writers and signed up for the free course “Write the Crap Out of It”, which kept me writing daily with prompts and helped me stay afloat in my depression.
Loving being a writer again, I added the 12 Short Stories in 12 Months, a few months into that I added a 12 month Writing Coach one-on-one face time with Mia. She really helped boost my confidence as a writer, as her edits were presented in a kind and encouraging manner, and it helped working with her as my writing coach believe that yes I am a writer!
When she talked about introducing 52 scenes to complete writing a novel over a year a leaped at that opportunity. I have always wanted to write a novel, but never had the courage and needed a push.
Surprisingly, I can now say 6 chapters away from finishing my first draft that I prefer writing novels over short stories. Mainly because I enjoy being invested in my characters and developing the story into a novel.
Mia Botha helped me become a writer again, and I can never thank her enough for that! In addition, I just self-published an anthology of my short stories through Amazon, Tales of Suspense and of the Heart by Linda Sansalone. My first book published!! Very exciting, and I owe many thanks to Mia for this accomplishment.
Deadlines work!!
