Okay, your paper, speech or whatever is due tomorrow and you haven't started. If this is business as usual for you as it was for most English majors I know, well, you know what to do. Get some coffee and stay up all night. That's what college is for. Your paper may even be brilliant because the editor in your head who tells you that you can't possibly do this and what were you thinking when you waited this long will have given out or gone to bed. Just write, write, write. Everybody needs an adrenaline rush every now and then, especially at 3:00 in the morning.
But what if you're not an English major and this is not business as usual for you? Can you legitimately get a deadline extension without looking like a whining liar? Are you a lying whiner who does this all the time? If so, you have plenty of company, but I'd suggest you find another club.
Sometimes deadlines aren't firm. If you need extra time, it might be possible. If you can ask without lying about the cause, ask away.
If you get the extension, here's what you do next: Get a kitchen timer, set it for 30 minutes and put your dainty behind in the chair in front of your computer RIGHT NOW. You are allowed to do nothing but work on your paper until the bell rings. Write as fast as you can. You can clean it up later. Just write! At the end of 30 minutes, you can take a 10 minute break. Then you come right back and keep working until you have a rough draft. Right now it doesn't matter what you say. Just get it down on paper. Tomorrow, after you've slept on it, start cleaning it up.
If you don't get the extension, well, you're going to have to put in the time. But you know something? Sleep is overrated. Browse through the "Steps to Success" categories on this blog to get your thinking going, then set your timer for 30 minutes and do nothing but write. If you can't think of a first sentence, use this one:
The longer I sit here the sooner I will be done.
Keep typing it until your mind changes gears and you can start writing about your subject. Use the timer to keep yourself disciplined. And be disciplined about your timed breaks, too. Work for 30, stop for 10. When the sun comes up, you'll have something.
Then you can start typing this sentence:
If I don't wait until the last minute, I'll avoid a lot of pain.
