Only half a month left for literary work (5)
I believe the answer is:
novel
'for literary work' is the definition.
(novel is a kind of literary work)
'only half a month left' is the wordplay.
'only half' suggests halving the letters.
'a' becomes 'an'.
'month' becomes 'ove' (I've seen this in other clues).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'an' halved is 'n'.
'n'+'ove'+'l'='NOVEL'
(Other definitions for novel that I've seen before include "Of a kind not seen before" , "New and intriguing" , "Hitherto unknown" , "Rebecca?" , "Kim, eg" .)