Losing Steam at the Finish Line
You may have noticed I'm posting less and less. I'm not visiting other blogs as often. I'm spending little time socialising online. Or anywhere else.
When I'm writing a book, I tend to pull away from the world just a little, but obviously not for the entire length of the manuscript, because that often takes months. The only time that I turn into an innercity hermit is when I'm so close to the end I can see myself finally closing the file with a smile of satisfaction and giving myself a break before starting my next project. I'm excited to be finished.
The only problem is, at this point, I'm not finished. So to help myself keep going, I'll estimate how long it should take—but I'm almost
always wrong. I never really know from one day to the next whether it's going to take me an hour or a day to write 2k. For example, last night, I wrote about 5k. If I hadn't gotten stuck on a scene for awhile, I might have written twice that.
Every day past the day I told myself I'd be done, it gets a little harder to open up that document and put down words. I love the story, and the characters, but tying up the loose ends and steering them towards the Happily Ever After is hard. I feel just like a kid at the park being told they've gotta go home in 5 minutes. How much fun can I have in 5 minutes? I don't want to go in 5 minutes! Just a little longer,
puhlllease!
This all ends with me dragging my feet, and most of the time, I don't even realize I'm doing it. I need to do more research. I can't get in the right mood. Or, the most telling, I need to reread the last few chapters to make sure I'm on the right track.
So how do I get past that? How do I get myself back up to speed and finally cross that finish line?
Well, I'm writing this as I'm attempting a new method I've been trying over the last couple of days. My internal editor (who shouldn't have been on in the first place) is sitting in the back of my skull trussed up in leftover Christmas ribbon, drooling around a ball gag. My inner critic is still screaming, but nothing coherent because my muse is having his way with her. And he's rough
I don't know if it will work, but if it does, this post will be here to remind me what to do next time I'm stuck. For all you authors, feel free to add whatever helps you. For all you readers, go ahead and laugh. Us writerly (Credit for this word goes to Cari Silverwood ;-p ) folks are a little odd.
As for me, I shall be back soon with news! Maybe an excerpt from my latest contracted book, maybe a progress report on Deadly Captive: Collateral Damage, which will be my next WIP. Just to drive you all a little crazy, I think I'll get one of those wordcount thingies to put in the sidebar. When you don't see the numbers rising, you can send me emails, threatening me with bodily harm. I find that quite motivating! 
