There is no worse feeling in the world than being an hour away from a due date and having no idea what to write. It can be compared to dropping $20, Doritos getting stuck in a vending machine, or even watching yourself flush your spring tuition down the drain.

Neither procrastination nor writer's block is something to laugh about on its own, but together they are especially nasty.

Writer's Block make writing difficult already, so the writer, already prone to procrastinate, decides to step away for a while because "inspiration will come eventually". Wake up call, y'all: usually that inspiration comes when the deadline is looming and that same writer is trying to pound out a three-page paper in 45 minutes.

Trust me, I know that feeling; why do you think I'm writing an article on the subject? I know both of these evils well, and they know me too. For me, writer's block is like a banshee and procrastination is like a dragon, so imagine a banshee on the back of a dragon and you have my brain on any given due date. I have, however, found a couple of tricks that help me, and maybe they will help you as well.

1. Build a relationship with others.

Build a relationship with whoever is making you turn in a piece of writing. Whether it's a professor, a boss, or an EIC, if you talk with them, it's much better for you than if you don't. You might get an extension, advice, even some inspiration.

2. Set small deadlines within big deadlines.

As crazy as this sounds, it works. I had a professor who made the class pitch our topics almost a month prior to our paper due date. She also made us turn in potential sources early, and we had to have a percentage of our essay done for workshopping a week ahead of time.

3. Take advantage of "word vomit."

As wild as this sounds, word vomit aka Brainstorming is also helpful. Just write down the first few things that come to mind and go with it.

Hopefully, this helps, but maybe it won't. Just know that you're not alone in this struggle.