What I would do differently

So, the book I’ve been writing while doing this blog post series is done! It was a tough one because I had to really dig in hard and force my poor brain to work when all it wanted was to rot on the couch and watch another episode of The Rookie.

What I need from now on is a better plan! A realistic plan at that. There are always things that are going to get in the way, such as unplanned events, a bout of sickness, and so on. You have to give yourself some grace. I have to give myself some grace. Because it’s not just about finishing a book, it’s about finishing a book you can be proud of!

Yes, if you’re just starting out, just conquering the obstacle of finishing your first book is a tremendous feat! Let’s not take away from that. I’m here to tell you that finishing any book can be hard. It can also be easy. It can be somewhere in between. It can be life-changing.

If you’re here because you’ve been wanting to write a book for a long time but have never gotten to write ‘the end’ on one of your projects, I can’t tell you specifically what will make that possible for you. I can, however, give you some advice, hope, and tools to give it your best shot!

Know how it ends

If you’ve read my plotting vs pantsing blog post, you already know I’m a plantser (a mix of the two). Usually, I’m hardcore pantsing but lately I’ve found that plotting a bit helps me out, though I’m sure my version of plotting would make actual plotters cringe.

Even if you’re not a plotter, having an idea of how your book should end might help you finish it. You’ll have something to work toward, and maybe that’ll give you that final push to finish your book!

For some, writing the end of the book first helps them write the whole book but even just a few sentences of what you want or expect your book to end with can be enough. Does that end have to be the final version? No. That’s the thing about writing, you can re-write what you’ve written. You can’t, however, re-write something you haven’t written at all.

Who’s got the time?

One very important thing as you try to finish writing a book is time management. This isn’t where I should mention that I’m timeblind, right? Oops. Maybe you are, too. Maybe you’re a parent with no time, maybe you’re just waiting for that moment where it will all magically fall into place. I’ll share a secret with you; it won’t happen on its own. You will have to carve out that time. You will have to want it enough to make it happen!

How do I do it, you may ask? I use Pacemaker.press to make a plan, and the cool thing about this FREE tool is that it changes with your progress. You miss a day? It updates to reflect that in the plan. I’ve been using Pacemaker for years and find it invaluable in organising and planning my writing. If you find your daily writing tasks overwhelming, an idea could be to try and break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks and then tackle the most annoying ones at the beginning of the day. That way, you don’t end up creating a backlog of tasks you can procrastinate over later. This also ties into prioritizing your tasks, and it’s okay to prioritize a task mainly because it takes up your mental space. There are a lot of great ways to budget your time, and the best way to figure out what works for you is to test it out for a set period of time and stick to it! 

Accountability

One thing that has always worked for me and that might work for you is accountability: have a reason to finish writing that book! That can be a promise to a friend, a deadline with a publisher, or perhaps putting your book up for preorder on online retailers. Whatever might work for you to kickstart that drive to finish your book.

Remember to be accountable to yourself as well, though. Make your deadline longer than you think you’ll need. It’s always better to have more time than you need than to run out of time. It’s never fun to feel rushed because you didn’t account for enough time to finish writing. 

Edit. Edit. Edit.

Or don’t… For some, editing while they write will stump them. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you. Are you a one-draft kinda writer, or are you a twenty-draft kinda writer? Neither is wrong. You just have to find out which is right for you!

I edit as I go, and then I do at least one or two rounds of editing of the full book when I’ve finished writing. I have a PA, and I’m lucky enough that she will proofread my finished books for me after I’m done editing. Getting someone to proofread your finished book can be a great idea to catch those dumb mistakes that you have missed despite reading it through a million times. You don’t have to have a PA like me to get someone to help with proofreading, though. There are Facebook groups for authors, where you help each other with exactly that, and you could also ask people you know to give your finished book a read-through before you continue with promo and releasing. 

Hurray! You did it!

Make sure to celebrate once you’ve finished writing your book! You got down and dirty, you put in the time and words, you pulled up your bootstraps and finished that book! You put yourself out there, and maybe you conquered a fear or crossed a milestone. Either way, you have a course for celebration!

If you’ve been able to take even one thing from this blog post series, then it was well worth writing! To be able to write a book from start to finish, figuring out how to start from a blank page, and learning what works for you to keep writing and staying motivated to eventually finish your book, is an unparalleled learning experience and something that is both daunting and thrilling beyond compare. For any aspiring authors out there, I wish you luck on your endeavors and hope you’ll enjoy the process of writing and finishing a book!

Thank you for following along in this series on how to write books from start to finish! I hope you enjoyed it and learned some tips and tricks along the way! Let me know in the comments if you liked the series and would like more posts like this in the future.