It’s hovered in the back of your mind, just below the surface of your thoughts, but you’ve refused to acknowledge it. It shows up during your free time and just before you’re ready to sleep, growing steadily more demanding since you first met on the syllabus. You had almost convinced yourself it wasn’t real, but it persistently calls your name… The deadline has materialized, otherwise known as tomorrow. It turns out deadlines are confrontational, and the time has come to sit down and face the all-nighter. Ready or not, the night will look something like this...
1. Denial
2. Panic
You've overestimated your abilities. There is no hope for this paper, and you are certain you have met the assignment of your doom.3. Resignation
4. But first, coffee.
Even if you don't really like it. How else does one begin a paper?5. Time to start?
6. 200 words.
That's a good start, right? It must be time for a break.7. A Burst of determination!
Revitalized and full of new determination, you're at it again, an unstoppable force of writing that might even finish before the break of dawn...
8. Snack break
...but before you get too far, you need sustenance. You couldn't do your best writing on an empty stomach, now, could you?
9. Panic, part II
How is it already 3 am?!10. Internet distractions (to combat panic)
Was the internet always this amusing?? Are you laughing or crying? But you close the window because it's time to...
11. ...Stumble through to the end.
You may or may not have typed the conclusion in your sleep.
12. Relief
And you're done! You're finished! You aren't even sure how you got here. You've conquered the deadline, met it head on, and you can take on anything. Like sleep.
