I’ve been writing for The Orion this entire semester, and still I waited until the last minute to write this article.

I really do try to be on top of my assignments, but it just never seems to work out.

I am typing this the day it is due. I have done the dishes, played with my cats and done laundry. I’d clean more, but I don’t want my husband to get high expectations.

It’s not as though I hate writing; in fact, I love it. I just hate the deadlines. They fill me with anxiety and dread.

Working for The Orion has been one of the biggest challenges in my life because I have to write two creative pieces a week, which is very different from deadlines for a class.

I like to tell myself that I am just a perfectionist, and that is why I always procrastinate.

“I just worry too much about it being perfect,” I tell myself as I glare at my laptop and watch another episode of Scandal.

“I’m just thinking it out. I need to organize it in my head first,” I tell my editor as I have nothing to show ten hours before the deadline. I’m not lying. I will be organizing it in my head as I get lunch with a friend. No laptop to guilt me at Tres Hombres.

“I need to be inspired,” I think two hours before the deadline while I scour the Internet for cute animal pictures. My article is up on my laptop so it is practically like I am writing it.

I always get my stuff in. I just hate the fact that it looms over my head all week. I wish I could say the constant deadlines changed my methods, but alas I am writing this at 11 p.m. with my homework for tomorrow lined up next.

I just want it to be perfect.

Alyssa Dunning can be reached at [email protected] or @alyssadunning3 on Twitter.