The most interesting part of a workshop for me is often the Q&A at the end. I had one lady ask me how I to physically finish a book with so many distractions. I told her there was only one way; butt in chair and hands on keyboard.
I get asked this all the time. An email last night was a variation of that question.
QUESTION: What do you do to make sure you make a deadline or finish a book even if your life is going crazy? Or what if you get an idea for another book? Do you stop and work on that one?
ANSWER: I feel a little like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. I feel like I should shout, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! The truth is, I couldn't handle the truth in the beginning either :) The ugly truth is that there is no shortcut. There is no quickie solution. Life gets crazy. My kids get sick. I get sick. There are days when the last thing I feel like doing is facing a blank page. Sometimes another book calls to me. I'll write down the details in a separate file but I don't let it distract from the book I'm trying to finish. Or I won't finish it.
The ONLY way to make finishing a book easier is to be tougher on yourself. Butt in chair. Hands on keyboard. That's all I've got.
5 comments:
Yup, I totally agree. The only way to finish a book is to sit down and write it. ;-)
Bingo. Life is a distraction. Roll with it or you'll never finish anything (even if you don't write). =oD
Although, I was a bad girl and dropped out of the book I was working on to start another. In my defense, the new book was thumping me in the back of the head and wouldn't go away. Plus it's coming out faster and better than the other one. (Which I will get back to if it kills me.)
Thanks for the reminder. I need to be doing that very thing.
Great post! And so true. Butt in chair...must get to it. :)
Now I have a visual of y'all STANDING at your computers up until my point was made LOL. Of course you get what I meant and that's the main thing.
Great to hear from all of you!
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