Finish the Damn Book!
This article first appeared in Romance Writers of Australia’s official journal, HEARTS TALK in 2007.
Pardon my language. I’m actually quoting a slogan from a coffee mug I received at a writing conference years ago. Back then, I liked to write but never considered myself a real author until 2003 because…(Gasp!) …I couldn’t finish a book. Oh, I could complete a sentence, a paragraph, even a whole chapter, but write an entire novel? Are you kidding? But I’ve learnt a few tricks and now feel very much like a real live productive author.
Reasons why you can’t finish a book - both rational and irrational:
1.You’re a procrastinator.
Oh, boy, join the club. I am the Queen of ProcrastiNation. The drug of choice in my tiny principality is television. There are times when I’d prefer to tune out with The Bold and the Beautiful rather than write or edit a chapter. Then I wake up when I realise that in half an hour I could have written a couple of pages. Which is a couple of pages closer to writing “The End”. Write first, then reward yourself with TV or whatever else prevents you from working.
2.You think you’re a lousy writer.
It is really, really hard work to write well. Some people are born with talent and aren’t afraid to use it. But the good thing about writing is that it’s tangible; it can be improved. Enter competitions and get feedback from people who don’t know you. More importantly, process that feedback. Unless having a completed manuscript is a contest prerequisite, you don’t need to write the whole book to enter a competition – though it does help to have a clear idea of where your story is going. If you’re not ready to plunge into a contest, sign up for a workshop. Buy or borrow how-to books. You also learn a lot by analysing published novels.
3.You don’t want it enough.
Examine your motives. Is this really what you want to do with your spare time? Madonna once told Vanity Fair, “If you can’t say ‘I’ll die if I don’t do it,’ you shouldn’t do it.” I think Madge was on to something. The point is you have to feel driven to do this crazy thing called writing and stick with it.
4.You don’t have time.
Most of us don’t have the luxury of time to write. Not with partners, kids, cats, chores, full- or part-time work, uni, blogging or socialising. Yet it’s not a matter of having time. It’s making time. And there’s no quantum physics involved, just discipline. Get up half an hour early and scribble down as much as you can. Write down a few ideas when you’re waiting for the washing machine to stop spinning. Don’t make excuses, make up a plot line.
5.You physically can’t write.
Back strain, wrist injury, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome. Pain, acute and chronic, is a writer’s nightmare. Voice recognition software is getting better and it saves your hands. Too expensive? Get a friend to help, pace yourself, use a Dictaphone or tape recorder, do whatever you have to do to get those words out. Don’t fall into the self-pity trap. If you do, though, exploit that darkness and channel it into your writing when you get better.
6.You’re not creative/good/original enough.
The problem with labels is that they’re sticky and hard to remove. I didn’t say impossible, though. If your internal editor is stuck on telling you what you are not, it’s harder to think about what you are and what you can do. Aspiring to dream up the next original, mind-blowing plot can actually bog you down. Often the best ideas come from something simple, like a conversation you hear on the train or an ad in the newspaper. Ask yourself, “What if?” What if the kindly old man you see at the shops every day has just been released from prison? What if he’s trying to piece together his fractured relationships? Try not to censor your imagination.
7.“I just don’t have a good story or characters.”
If you know this in your heart, then stop wasting your time and brainstorm new ideas. Having said that, the first book I ever finished was insipid but I kept going until it was done. I wanted to prove to myself I could hold the plot reins for the duration of a novel. I’m sure that book will never sell unless I do a complete overhaul. My subsequent books were much better but only because I learnt from mistakes.
8.“I’m scared of submitting.”
In my kindest, most compassionate voice, I say, “Get over it. Please!” Writing is a scary business for many reasons. We’re human – we hate hearing that people aren’t in love with our work, we hate rejection, we hate not winning contests! But we love writing, don’t we? Polish what you write. Make your critique partner fall in love with it too. Polish again. Then submit. Remember, if an objective agent or editor says your work isn’t right for them, it’s not a personal attack. Nasty comments aren’t worth dwelling on but do consider constructive feedback. Dust the flack off and keep on submitting.
9.“I’m too disorganised.”
It’s a fact: certain people have a place for everything and everything in its place. Others have everything, including their thoughts, floating around everywhere. If getting organised is a problem for you, buy a calendar, an alarm clock, folders (or sort your computer’s folders) and a brilliant book by Julie Morgenstern called Organizing From the Inside Out. (Hodder, ISBN 0 7336 1350 0).
Use the calendar to give yourself deadlines. Plan your day in advance. In the real world, contracted writers work to deadlines, so you might as well train yourself now. Set the clock to give yourself a time limit. If fifteen minutes a day is all you have to write, use every second of it and don’t give yourself a hard time for not doing more. Have the enviable problem of too many story ideas? Allocate a folder for each idea and pick one to work on. Try not to sneak into the other folders until you complete a draft of one story. Books on organising your workspace provide handy tips on storage. Morgenstern also analyses emotional or psychological reasons behind clutter chaos.
What you can do now:
*Just do it.
Write. Don’t edit, don’t delete, don’t read back what you’ve written. Just write. Prune your prose only after you’ve let the words grow. To carry on with the corny garden theme (get it?), you could try writing in summer, do a mild edit in autumn, let the book lie dormant in winter during which time you can plot your next book, and spring it out of the bottom drawer in September (for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere) for a good clean-up.
*Establish an achievable, measurable, realistic goal.
If you’re a slow writer, don’t expect to write a 100,000-word novel in three months. Come up with a target like two pages per day, three days a week. Faster writers could aim for ten pages a day. Record how much you achieve on a spreadsheet or a calendar. You might even find yourself capable of doing more than you thought possible. Don’t be discouraged if life gets in the way and you can’t always make your daily page count. You’re not a fembot from outer space.
* Don’t compare yourself to Nora Roberts.
Don’t compare yourself to other writers either. We’re all at different stages of our careers, with different circumstances and experiences. If everybody else around you is getting published, sure, be jealous for a second. Even Jennifer Crusie says going a little green is good. Then get to work.
* Read widely.
I’m often afraid I might subconsciously steal other peoples’ ideas when I read published books. I jot down the inspired piece of writing, as well as the book’s title and author, so when I look back at it later I’ll know it didn’t originate from me. Sometimes I’ll take an element of a book and think about how I could put my own twist on it. Blatant plagiarism is a definite no-no. Ideas and titles, however, aren’t copyrighted. Reading new books is still the best way to figure out what’s selling as well as learn how good and bad novels are constructed.
The best piece of advice I can offer is to take one day at a time, one book at a time. Stay focused on achieving all the little goals that make up the big goal of finishing your manuscript. A few years ago I didn’t have a finished novel to my name. Now I have completed five and am working on book six. The Queen of ProcrastiNation is ready to abdicate.
Pardon my language. I’m actually quoting a slogan from a coffee mug I received at a writing conference years ago. Back then, I liked to write but never considered myself a real author until 2003 because…(Gasp!) …I couldn’t finish a book. Oh, I could complete a sentence, a paragraph, even a whole chapter, but write an entire novel? Are you kidding? But I’ve learnt a few tricks and now feel very much like a real live productive author.
Reasons why you can’t finish a book - both rational and irrational:
1.You’re a procrastinator.
Oh, boy, join the club. I am the Queen of ProcrastiNation. The drug of choice in my tiny principality is television. There are times when I’d prefer to tune out with The Bold and the Beautiful rather than write or edit a chapter. Then I wake up when I realise that in half an hour I could have written a couple of pages. Which is a couple of pages closer to writing “The End”. Write first, then reward yourself with TV or whatever else prevents you from working.
2.You think you’re a lousy writer.
It is really, really hard work to write well. Some people are born with talent and aren’t afraid to use it. But the good thing about writing is that it’s tangible; it can be improved. Enter competitions and get feedback from people who don’t know you. More importantly, process that feedback. Unless having a completed manuscript is a contest prerequisite, you don’t need to write the whole book to enter a competition – though it does help to have a clear idea of where your story is going. If you’re not ready to plunge into a contest, sign up for a workshop. Buy or borrow how-to books. You also learn a lot by analysing published novels.
3.You don’t want it enough.
Examine your motives. Is this really what you want to do with your spare time? Madonna once told Vanity Fair, “If you can’t say ‘I’ll die if I don’t do it,’ you shouldn’t do it.” I think Madge was on to something. The point is you have to feel driven to do this crazy thing called writing and stick with it.
4.You don’t have time.
Most of us don’t have the luxury of time to write. Not with partners, kids, cats, chores, full- or part-time work, uni, blogging or socialising. Yet it’s not a matter of having time. It’s making time. And there’s no quantum physics involved, just discipline. Get up half an hour early and scribble down as much as you can. Write down a few ideas when you’re waiting for the washing machine to stop spinning. Don’t make excuses, make up a plot line.
5.You physically can’t write.
Back strain, wrist injury, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome. Pain, acute and chronic, is a writer’s nightmare. Voice recognition software is getting better and it saves your hands. Too expensive? Get a friend to help, pace yourself, use a Dictaphone or tape recorder, do whatever you have to do to get those words out. Don’t fall into the self-pity trap. If you do, though, exploit that darkness and channel it into your writing when you get better.
6.You’re not creative/good/original enough.
The problem with labels is that they’re sticky and hard to remove. I didn’t say impossible, though. If your internal editor is stuck on telling you what you are not, it’s harder to think about what you are and what you can do. Aspiring to dream up the next original, mind-blowing plot can actually bog you down. Often the best ideas come from something simple, like a conversation you hear on the train or an ad in the newspaper. Ask yourself, “What if?” What if the kindly old man you see at the shops every day has just been released from prison? What if he’s trying to piece together his fractured relationships? Try not to censor your imagination.
7.“I just don’t have a good story or characters.”
If you know this in your heart, then stop wasting your time and brainstorm new ideas. Having said that, the first book I ever finished was insipid but I kept going until it was done. I wanted to prove to myself I could hold the plot reins for the duration of a novel. I’m sure that book will never sell unless I do a complete overhaul. My subsequent books were much better but only because I learnt from mistakes.
8.“I’m scared of submitting.”
In my kindest, most compassionate voice, I say, “Get over it. Please!” Writing is a scary business for many reasons. We’re human – we hate hearing that people aren’t in love with our work, we hate rejection, we hate not winning contests! But we love writing, don’t we? Polish what you write. Make your critique partner fall in love with it too. Polish again. Then submit. Remember, if an objective agent or editor says your work isn’t right for them, it’s not a personal attack. Nasty comments aren’t worth dwelling on but do consider constructive feedback. Dust the flack off and keep on submitting.
9.“I’m too disorganised.”
It’s a fact: certain people have a place for everything and everything in its place. Others have everything, including their thoughts, floating around everywhere. If getting organised is a problem for you, buy a calendar, an alarm clock, folders (or sort your computer’s folders) and a brilliant book by Julie Morgenstern called Organizing From the Inside Out. (Hodder, ISBN 0 7336 1350 0).
Use the calendar to give yourself deadlines. Plan your day in advance. In the real world, contracted writers work to deadlines, so you might as well train yourself now. Set the clock to give yourself a time limit. If fifteen minutes a day is all you have to write, use every second of it and don’t give yourself a hard time for not doing more. Have the enviable problem of too many story ideas? Allocate a folder for each idea and pick one to work on. Try not to sneak into the other folders until you complete a draft of one story. Books on organising your workspace provide handy tips on storage. Morgenstern also analyses emotional or psychological reasons behind clutter chaos.
What you can do now:
*Just do it.
Write. Don’t edit, don’t delete, don’t read back what you’ve written. Just write. Prune your prose only after you’ve let the words grow. To carry on with the corny garden theme (get it?), you could try writing in summer, do a mild edit in autumn, let the book lie dormant in winter during which time you can plot your next book, and spring it out of the bottom drawer in September (for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere) for a good clean-up.
*Establish an achievable, measurable, realistic goal.
If you’re a slow writer, don’t expect to write a 100,000-word novel in three months. Come up with a target like two pages per day, three days a week. Faster writers could aim for ten pages a day. Record how much you achieve on a spreadsheet or a calendar. You might even find yourself capable of doing more than you thought possible. Don’t be discouraged if life gets in the way and you can’t always make your daily page count. You’re not a fembot from outer space.
* Don’t compare yourself to Nora Roberts.
Don’t compare yourself to other writers either. We’re all at different stages of our careers, with different circumstances and experiences. If everybody else around you is getting published, sure, be jealous for a second. Even Jennifer Crusie says going a little green is good. Then get to work.
* Read widely.
I’m often afraid I might subconsciously steal other peoples’ ideas when I read published books. I jot down the inspired piece of writing, as well as the book’s title and author, so when I look back at it later I’ll know it didn’t originate from me. Sometimes I’ll take an element of a book and think about how I could put my own twist on it. Blatant plagiarism is a definite no-no. Ideas and titles, however, aren’t copyrighted. Reading new books is still the best way to figure out what’s selling as well as learn how good and bad novels are constructed.
The best piece of advice I can offer is to take one day at a time, one book at a time. Stay focused on achieving all the little goals that make up the big goal of finishing your manuscript. A few years ago I didn’t have a finished novel to my name. Now I have completed five and am working on book six. The Queen of ProcrastiNation is ready to abdicate.