How to Finish a Book: 3 Qualities of Writers Who Finally Get ‘er Done

If there’s anything harder than starting your book, it’s finishing, right?

You want to. You mean to. You have the best intentions when you sit before that keyboard.

But then comes that accusatory voice, criticizing every sentence, telling you you’re not good enough.

You’ve wasted too much time already.

You’ll never publish at this rate.

Soon the mental strain is too much. It’s easier to play mindless computer games or check your email or Facebook or click on some trail of photos guaranteed to blow your mind.

Before you know it, the day is gone and the cycle begins again tomorrow.

It’s time to break out and actually finish.

Would you believe I face the same pain and self-doubt every time I sit at the keyboard?

It’s true, despite decades of bestsellers and the fact that I write only under contract now.

Shouldn’t that give me confidence and the motivation to stay at the task, no matter what?

Yes, it should. But at some point in the grueling process of finishing, I battle the same accusatory voice and the lure of distractions that seem to multiply daily.

The Secret to Finishing Your Book

It’s as simple as seeing yourself as a success rather than a failure.

Now, stay with me. I’m a realist—not some weird visualization guru.

I’m talking about the kind of imagining we did when we were engaged and considered what our marriage might look like in a few years.

Or what our baby or toddler might become as a high schooler or college student or adult.

Now turn that imagination on yourself.

Imagine yourself having finished that book.

You’re still visiting this website, looking for tips and insight. But rather than desperately searching for something to get you over the hump, you’re nodding knowingly, feeling more like a colleague than a student.

You’re on a first-name basis with editors at real publishing houses.

Your shelf has your book—maybe more than one—proudly displayed.

You’ve had an autograph party, a public reading, been reviewed in print, received endorsements from writers you admire.

People know you as not only a friend and colleague, but also as a writer. And they introduce you that way.

You’re a legitimately published author, as you’ve always dreamed.

So What Will Get You There, Across That Finish Line?

Here are the three most important qualities I see in writers who finish:

1.  They treat their first draft like a hunk of meat.

Successful writers know something others don’t:

First drafts are supposed to be bad. I view mine as a hunk of meat to be carved.

I spend zero time, during the writing, trying to make it right. In fact, I make it a point to turn off my internal editor.

I don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, redundancies, clichés, or even logic.

So give yourself permission to write a bad first draft.

If you don’t get words onto the page, you have nothing to work with.

My first drafts are always terrible, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I begin my next work session with a heavy edit and rewrite (in essence carving that hunk of meat I produced the day before), which catapults me into that day’s writing.

That’s when I turn off my internal editor again and start producing another hunk of meat to carve the next day.

2.  They’re crystal clear on their target reader.

Let me keep this simple for you. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

The most common rookie mistake is to say—and believe—that your book is for everyone: men and women and boys and girls.

If it is, it’s ill-conceived. You’ll have a tough time writing it and an even tougher time placing it with a publisher.

Just as it’s important to be able to summarize the gist of your book in one sentence, it’s crucial to know specifically who you’re writing to.

That doesn’t mean a love story with a woman protagonist can’t be enjoyed by men, or that if it is an adult story it can’t be enjoyed by readers as young as teens.

But you should be writing it to a representative reader—yes, just one. For the sake of this example, picture in your mind a middle-aged woman.

She should be as real to you as your characters. If a picture from a magazine represents her, put it where you can see her as you work.

Then write to her and only her.

Often I write to myself.

Why?

Because my mantra is reader-first. I want to be certain I’m writing only what will keep my reader entertained, engaged, turning pages—and most importantly, never, ever bored.

I certainly don’t have to wonder whether my target reader is losing interest if that reader is me.

Know your reader. It will focus your writing more than ever before. And that will go a long way toward getting you to the finish line.

3.  They always work before they play.

When you put off work, it has a habit of not getting done.

Word games and Internet surfing aren’t as much fun with work hanging over your head, are they? But work isn’t so bad when you’ve promised yourself the reward of a little fun for finishing.

We writers, too, need to work before we play, but we must make time for play. I never feel more stress than when I’m on the home stretch of a manuscript and can no longer schedule some down time.

I motivate myself to get my writing done by looking forward to the payoff: time with my wife, having dinner with her, maybe going to a movie or watching a favorite TV show.

Psychologists say a sign of good mental health is the ability to delay gratification.

We are born wanting what we want when we want it. We scream for milk, we scream for attention, we scream for toys, we scream to be changed. When we get that bottle, we empty it right away, and if it’s not enough, we scream for more.

Preschoolers with cupcakes lick that tasty frosting right off the top and then lose interest in the dry cake.

It’s only as we mature that we learn the value of delaying gratification.

I use the Anti-Social app to turn off my email and social media while I’m writing, delaying the gratification of whatever fun that can be had for when I’ve earned it by getting my work done.

Some games and other trivial computer diversions I have actually removed from the computer I write on. I have those installed only on the laptop I use in the house.

That keeps me focused, because I think it’s important to work before I play.

Why?

Because, like you, above all I want to finish my book.

What will be the best thing about finally finishing your book? Tell me in the Comments below.

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