I don't want your best work. I want your bravest work.
Your “best work” is what you already know how to do. It’s your strongest skill set, the thing you’ve mastered, the piece you feel confident about. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s wonderful! That’s the work you should send off to competitions, anthologies and publishers. That’s your portfolio, your shop window, your race day.
But what I want from you, in this space, is your bravest work.
Brave work isn’t polished. It isn’t perfect. It often isn’t comfortable. Brave work is messy, uncertain, sometimes even shaky. It’s the poem you’re not sure you know how to write. The story that makes your heart beat faster because it’s too personal, too weird, too different. Brave work is when you step out of what you know you do well, and into what you’re not sure you can do yet.
Be Brave
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A deadline is the fastest way to fill a blank page.
About Us
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. We need deadlines.
Deadlines for Writers is the kindest, most productive writing community on the internet. We kick procrastination butt by meeting daily, weekly and monthly deadlines.
Deadlines for Writers
Deadlines for Writers is the home to several writing challenges. We host the 12 Short Stories in 12 Months, 12 Poems in 12 Months and 52 Scenes in 52 Weeks novel-writing challenge.
We write together, critique each other's work and constantly improve our craft.
12 Short Stories
Can you write 12 Short Stories in 12 Months?
12 Poems
Can you write 12 Poems in 12 Months?
Mia Botha
Founder
Mia has been a creative writing coach for more than 13 years. She created the Deadlines for Writers, which as the name implies, is a deadline-driven, online critique group that helps writers beat procrastination and perfectionism and overcome self-doubt because she has learnt that a deadline is the fastest way to fill a blank page.
©2025 Deadlines for Writers.