Once you start writing, you’ll find that it isn’t as easy as it looks. You may start a few projects, then abandon them…unfinished. A common problem amongst writers, so how do you deal with it? The answer depends on where you are when you hit that wall. Some writers never even started, despite the fact that they claim they want to write. Some get going, but then the enthusiasm fades away as they get deeper and deeper into the story. Then there are the ones who seem to be afraid of finishing. If you never actually complete your book, then you won’t have to hear anyone critique it—avoiding failure by avoiding completion? That’s not what you want to do.
How Far Have You Gotten?
If you’ve just started…or are just thinking about starting…you may have concerns whether your writing is going to be worth anyone’s time. Don’t consider that now…just write for yourself. Once you get going and have a project in development, then you can start thinking about your Target Reader. Ideas loose in your head just get all jumbled up and confused. Merely putting them onto paper will help spotlight where you need to expand.
Other writers get bogged down near the end of their undertaking. The closer they get, the more they fear that it won’t turn out as they wanted. Sometimes the ending they’ve planned just won’t work out because of some things that have happened earlier in the story. They thought they knew which way it was going, but when they got there, it just wouldn’t happen.
I can commiserate with them entirely. I knew how a novel I was working on was going to end…but half-way through, the characters told me that they didn’t want that ending. [sigh] I had to go with what they wanted and rewrite the entire ending.
The mere fact that you have come this far is a testament to your determination…just a bit more and you’ll be done! You’ll have accomplished something few others have. It won’t be completely finished, but I’ve always said that I can’t edit a blank page. Get it written…then address the issues.
The majority of failed writers get stuck half way through the novel. The beginning and the end are fine…it’s the muddle that drags them down. Trying to keep inspired as you’re writing can be a problem.
How to Keep Going
No matter where you get stuck, there are ways to get going again, but first you need to decide if you want to keep going. If writing is a hobby…because you like writing…then there’s no reason to keep going. I wrote a resignation letter one time that used the line: “If it ain’t fun, don’t do it.”
On the other hand, if you are writing in hopes of making a living, then you need to treat writing as a job. If you called your plumber, and he said, “I just don’t feel like plumbing today”, you’d probably be a bit surprised. What if your baker decided to take a day off because he wasn’t in the mood to bake? It would shock you. If you, as a writer, didn’t put forth at least some effort every day, then it isn’t really a job…I don’t know what it is.
The best habit to develop is of writing daily, then half the battle is conquered. Excepting weekends, you sit and write…whether you feel like it or not. Some days may be more productive than others, but at least you have something to show for it.
I heard tell of a writer who stopped for lunch after spending the morning writing. His wife asked him how it was going, and he replied, “I put in a comma.” That evening, after working all afternoon, he answered his wife’s question with: “I took the comma out.” Not all days are going to yield something creative, but at least you’re attempting to do it. In basketball, they say that you’ll miss every shot that you don’t try.
Track Your Progress
Daily writing goals help, and by graphing your work, you’ll see how it adds up…how close you are to your goal. Using Excel to graph your progress can be challenging, but if you keep the analytical side of your brain active, you can reserve the creative side for your writing. (When I was in university, I always took a maths/science class as well as art/creative writing class…and I used the far south carpark if I didn’t have a kinesiology class. Gotta to keep both parts of your brain active!)
If you prefer someone else graph your work, use a program similar to Pacemaker Planner to set up a goal and daily plan, either word count or time spent. It then shows how much work you need to do—as you work, you enter how far you’ve gotten. It then compares that with where you should be…and can adjust the later dates to accommodate your actual progress. (Very useful if you’re trying NaNoWriMo.)
Eliminate Distractions
If you get easily distracted, most word processing programs have a Distraction Free setting. If you need more, there are programs out there comparable to Focus Writer. It allows you to configure an environment and background that helps you stay on task.
Blind Write takes a unique attitude towards writing. Fully espousing the philosophy of turning off your internal editor during the process of writing, they allow you to set your topic and a timer, then just type away…the only thing is that you can’t see what you’re typing…not until the timer runs out. It’s certainly a good way to get some ideas down without being bothered by small typos, phrasing issues, word choice problems, etc. Once the timer ends and you can finally see what you’ve typed, you just copy and paste the text into any word processor for clean-up. (It will really test your typing skills, too!)
I really recommend you try it…even if just for fun.