Writing Tips: How to Complete a Book

The hardest thing about writing a book is actually completing it. Ask anyone who's tried. Now when I say completed I mean completing a rough draft. It does not include the potentially endless revision process. But having that rough draft in hand really separates the men from the boys. At that point you no longer belong to the multitude of aspiring authors who say with a melancholy sigh, "I'd like to write a book someday." You've actually done it. It may not be good. It may only technically qualify as a book because its printed on paper and contains words in a certain order. But you've still done it, and it does give you a great sense of accomplishment. So how do you reach that point?

The way I see it there are two walls to climb when it comes to completing a book.

1) Procrastination
2) Perfectionism

First, let's discuss the procrastination problem. This trait is hardly limited to book-writing. In fact it permeates everything human beings do. We are always putting things off until the last minute...and then some. Don't be ashamed, but if you do want to complete that novel or how-to guide then you will have to take steps to remove procrastination from your work.

The first thing I did was to set a word quota for the duration of the project (about 40 days) This is a number of words I had to complete each day before I could quit. I actually had three numbers to go by:

• 1200 (minimum) : this is the lowest word count I would allow myself to write before I was allowed to quit for the day. If I never reached that number I could not quit. No exceptions.

• 1500 (target) : this was my goal each day, the number I was supposed to reach.

• 2000 (maximum) : this was the most I would allow myself to write in a single day.

Having a minimum and target quota is kind of obvious and seems logical, but I have gotten a few skeptical looks for having a maximum. After all, if you get on some inspired kick and want to spin out ten thousand words in one day, why should you stop? Well, knowing myself, I knew that if it did happen to me I would burn out very quickly and lose interest. So I put a cap on it and for me it turned out very well. There were only a few times in the month and a half I worked that I reached my max. But at those points I found a good stopping point, saved my work, and made a small note about what I was thinking for the next day.

Once my quota was reached I would try my best not to think at all about the book, writing, or storytelling for the rest of the day. I also did not read anything during this time. For entertainment I watched movies, played games, and rode my mountain bike. Again, knowing myself, I knew that if I read anything then I would unconsciously mimic that style when I returned to my work and I didn't want that to happen.

So, this method worked for me to avoid procrastination. I sat down each morning, worked for an average of 2-4 hours until I had reached my quota for the day. Then I made backups and forgot about it until the next morning.

The second wall of completing your book is somewhat related to procrastination, and that is perfectionism. It is a specific kind of procrastination that many, many writers have a problem with. I had a problem with it, and finally coming to terms with it allowed me to complete my novel.

Specifically the problem is this: As writers we read a lot and are inspired by other writers' work. We see beautifully and eloquently rendered prose for years and years and thereby come to understand what good writing is supposed to look like. And then we sit down to a blank screen and what comes out of our heads does not resemble at all that Hemingway short story or that Irving novel. It's ugly, clunky, and just plain sucks.

Then what do we do? We sit there for an hour pouring over one sentence, trying to get that one group of words just so. A lot of writers romanticize this kind of perfectionism, but you know, it's kind of bullshit. I know. I fell into that trap so many times before. I wanted my sentences and paragraphs to be as good (or better) than Hemingway's and by God I wasn't going to quit until they were. You can guess what happened. I worked and worked on that paragraph, and slowly, ever so slowly, my story did not get written.

This kind of perfectionism is murder when you're writing a book-length work. There is just too much content to be written to focus on minute details at the early draft phase. I have a feeling this is the number one reason books don't get written. Writers start on something and obsess over words, sentences, and paragraphs and forget the primary reason they are writing is to convey a story, feelings or ideas. Let's be perfectly honest, writers are in love with what they do and are ashamed that what's coming out doesn't resemble the masterpieces they have read.

What's the solution? That's easy. Just write. And keep writing. Don't worry one bit about the quality of what is coming out. Some of it will be good, most of it will be bad. And every once in awhile you will write something that is so awful it might crash your computer. But save often, and soon enough you will assemble a mass of words that you can call your book.