The Write Stuff - Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book
Tip #2 - Slowly But Surely!
Word By Word
Writing a book is like running a marathon. When the starting gun goes off, or when the miles start to take a toll on your body, if all you think about is the finish line you can easily become overwhelmed. That end point is so far away. You realise just how much time and energy it will take to get you there. Your feet are already aching. You can’t do this. It’s impossible. Whatever made you think you could write a book! Cut your losses and give up now!
Imagine sitting down each time to write with that mindset. It’s a recipe for failure. The creative process can be hard enough without you bringing a defeated attitude to it.
So don’t. Don’t think about how many words you still have left, how many pages remain ahead of you.
Instead, focus on reaching whatever milestone keeps you writing. For me, I concentrate on one sentence at a time. I tell myself all I need to write is a sentence. Then I write another. Then another. Pretty soon I have a paragraph. Then a page. A chapter. Then, finally, a completed draft. The end can creep up on me, because my eyes aren’t on that finish line. They’re on that one sentence. Over and over and over.
Of course, once you’re in the swing of writing, those sentences will turn into a flow, but whenever the flow stops, I remind myself: Just one more sentence. Then another. Then another. And I’m back in the race again.
I know where I’m going because I have an outline. Like directions in a marathon, that detailed plan ensures I don’t wander off course or worse, come to a dead stop, because I’m completely lost.
Some days the words come easily, some days not so easy. Some days I think what I’ve written is genius, sometimes it’s dull and leaden. But I never backtrack and rewrite, not until I’ve finished that first draft. That would be like dashing back to repeat the first part of the marathon. Your mission in that initial draft is to get it all out. Reach the end. Then you can reflect on just how you went. You’re going to run this course many time during the rewriting process. For that first time, just get it out.
