finishing a book – Meg Dowell Writes

Why You Should Take Your Time Finishing Your Next Book

A good book, your best book, won’t be written in a day.

Jan 8, 2016Jan 22, 2016 Meg Dowell3 Comments

There’s another thing about writing most new writers don’t expect.

It takes a long time. A very long time.

I write a lot, and sometimes it appears I write very quickly, or at least try to, during every writing project I commit to. Especially when I talk about NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words in less than 30 days. I’m writing one novella per month this year and am up early to get this post out to you today before I focus on some other writing I need to get done before lunch.

But getting a lot of writing done doesn’t always mean you have to get it done quickly, and most of the time, I don’t. No one does. Especially when it comes to full-length novels.

It’s a very long and large kind of project to keep up with, and sometimes I think what stops a lot of aspiring writers from finishing what they start is feeling like they’re moving too slow. Not making enough progress. That the finish line is too far away and they’re never going to reach it.

It never feels good to feel rushed, regardless of whether you’re the one pushing yourself or someone else is pushing you. Sure, sometimes you can totally sit down and crank out a few thousand words at a time, multiple days in a row. But there’s always risk of burnout. You are always going to have an off day or two. Real life happens, and you have to put your book last for a little while.

That should never discourage you from writing anyway. A good book isn’t given that label based on how quickly it was written. It’s given that label because of the time and effort the writer, and her team put into making it that way.

I do write quickly, sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with a few good sprints every now and then. But it also took me over three years to finish my last book. Did I want to get it done sooner? Of course I did. But it would not have been as satisfying as it was if I would have just forced myself to rush through it. Writing is hard, but part of the thrill is looking at something you know you’ve worked really hard on and realizing you did that. You wrote that. You achieved that.

It takes time. Everyone writes at their own pace and has other things they need to balance with it. Give yourself smaller mini-deadlines to work toward. Give yourself plenty of room to take your time. What’s the rush, really? The more time you spend on your story (not too long, but just long enough), the more you will bond with your characters. The more efficiently and effectively you will be able to bring your story to life.

Slow down. Don’t worry if it feels like it’s taking forever. Be patient. And for the love of all things literary, cut George R. R. Martin some slack, all right?

Love&hugs, Meg<3

Image courtesy of Novelty Revisions.

Meg is the managing editor at College Lifestyles magazine, a guest contributor with Lifehack and a guest blogger for Food & Nutrition Magazine. She is an eight-time NaNoWriMo winner and has also written for Teen Ink and USA TODAY College. Follow Meg on Twitter.

A Story Has to Fall Apart Before It Can Come Together (Midweek Novel Update #18)

Sep 16, 2015 Meg DowellLeave a comment

Can I be finished yet?

Does that question make me sound ungrateful? It probably does, and I’m really sorry about that. I am. But being this close to finishing my book, and still not feeling like I’m getting any closer to actually being done, is really discouraging.

Have you ever felt this way? Completely lost even though you know exactly where your story is going?

I don’t know why I’m so impatient all of a sudden. I’m not even really all that focused on my word count, except making sure I crank out at least 1K per day to keep myself moving forward. I don’t want to rush through the rest of it just to finish. I don’t want to take things out just because I don’t feel like I have time to finish developing them and tying up their loose ends.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been working on this story for a long time, and I am looking forward to starting to work on a different project (I’ve had another story idea in my head for a month or so now, but I’m saving it for NaNoWriMo). Maybe it’s the fact that I know this story so well, even when I write intense scenes, they don’t surprise me anymore.

Maybe I’m just having a bad day.

I’ve really been dragging myself through my daily word counts this week. Some days I fly through them, and those are the best days. I know we can’t have good writing days all the time, or we’d get bored. But on the days I’m struggling to get the words out, I just wish it were over already.

I don’t even technically know how much is left. I’m filling in all the gaps I’ve unintentionally left for myself. Connecting the plot points. Making sure I locate those pieces of story I wrote earlier in the project that don’t really belong in the book anymore and taking them out. Trying not to worry if my book is too long, too complicated, too simple, not realistic enough.

I don’t remember if I’ve been through this before, coming up on the end of a story I’ve basically given my life over to and suddenly feeling like I want nothing to do with it. I’ve probably just unknowingly burned myself out, writing every single day for two and a half months. But I’m afraid that if I stop and take a break, I won’t start again, and the first draft will never get finished.

I’ve already decided that when I’m done writing, I’m going to take a week off from the story. Close it out and let it just sit there. That’s the other reason I’m so fixated on getting it done. I just don’t want to look at it anymore.

It isn’t that I’m not proud of it. It’s normal and totally okay to be proud of your own work. I guess I just secretly wonder if it will ever actually turn into anything. Or will it end up like all my other books, only ever read by me and a few people I trust, never shared with anyone else?

All this hard work can’t be for nothing. But I’ve seen this book come undone too many times to let it fall apart again. I’m so far, I’m so close, even if I did have to restructure it and change it, I think it would still survive. I don’t give up that easily. I just hope that doesn’t happen.

Stories are like people. Sometimes they can’t become all they want to be until they’re stripped down to their basic elements and woven back together again.

Will it all come together in the end? Will you finally get a break from all these crazy Wednesday updates?

Hopefully. Hopefully soon.

Love&hugs, Meg<3

Meg is a twenty-something workaholic with a passion for writing, coffee and health. In addition to her status as an aspiring novelist, Meg is the managing editor at College Lifestyles magazine, a guest contributor with Lifehack and a guest blogger for Food & Nutrition Magazine. She is a seven-time NaNoWriMo winner and has also written for Teen Ink and USA TODAY College. Follow Meg on Twitter.

Filling In the Gaps (Midweek Novel Update #17)

Sep 9, 2015 Meg Dowell1 Comment

When I say I’m close to finishing, I mean close. Close enough to stop in the middle of doing something else to click back over to my draft and add a paragraph before I forget it. Close enough to wake up in the middle of the night, turn my laptop back on and write a few hundred words. Close enough that the story is all I think about, and I feel like I’m going insane.

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt all the end-of-the-novel feelings. I have missed this so, so much.

I’m not saying the book will be finished when I’m done filling in all the spots I skipped over, mostly necessary-but-aggravating descriptions (and honestly, that funeral I said I was ready to write, but haven’t yet). It’s going to need a lot of revising. I’m probably going to need to cut out a lot, to simplify things a little. I’m a Wrimo veteran; that will be hard for me. But maybe … maybe not as hard as it’s been writing and rewriting and rewriting over the past 38 months.

I’ve written and revised books before, usually enough to feel good about the free proof copy I could get from CreateSpace, so I know what I’m about to get myself into. This time around will be different though. I’m planning on putting together queries for this one. Which isn’t any different than what other aspiring novelists would do in my situation, but (and not to get too deep) I haven’t finished writing a book or thought much about trying to publish one since I lost my creative writing mentor.

It’s kind of a big deal. I sort of made a promise. And I might actually be able to keep it. Which is terrifying, because I never thought I’d get this far. Writing a book I’m actually proud of, I mean.

This is a weird stage of noveling. I spent a good ten minutes this morning describing rain (imagine trying to explain the sound of rain from the viewpoint of someone who’s never seen or heard it before). I’m going back and adding in small details I didn’t realize I needed. I accidentally foreshadowed something in the middle of the story and now have to make sure it connects to the end.

The end. It’s so close.

Technically, I’ve written the end already. It’s completely different than my original ending, but isn’t that how it always works out? The epilogue is what is supposed to carry the reader over to the next story … but I can’t think about that yet. I have to finish this one first.

Be on the lookout for a victory-I’m-a-free-woman-again post. That’s all I’m saying.

Except we’re never really free. I already have the idea for my NaNoWriMo novel rolling around in my head. But that’s for a future blog post.

Love&hugs, Meg<3

Image courtesy of Novelty Revisions.

Meg is a twenty-something workaholic with a passion for writing, coffee and health. In addition to her status as an aspiring novelist and Grammar Nazi, Meg is the managing editor at College Lifestyles magazine and a guest blogger for Food & Nutrition Magazine. She is a seven-time NaNoWriMo winner and has written several creative pieces for Teen Ink. Follow Meg on Twitter.

I’m Getting Closer (Midweek Novel Update #15)

Aug 26, 2015 Meg DowellLeave a comment

So if you haven’t heard, I’m writing a book.

You already knew that, if you’ve been keeping up with me for awhile (to those who followed this blog before 2015, kudos). But for those who haven’t heard, I’m over three years into an idea-turned-almost-sort-of-a-novel-type-thing, and soon enough, it’s going to pay off.

And by that, of course, I mean I’m going to finish it and do my happy dance and drink a celebratory pot of coffee and then sleep for a year.

Yes, you read that right. I AM GOING TO FINISH IT. Soon, Like, at the rate I’m going, possibly within the next month or so. That kind of soon.

I’m freaking out.

This story has not turned out the way I planned, as is usually the case. And I’m finding now that, the closer I get to filling in all the gaps and calling it done, the more freely I’m willing to move things around, change wording, delete pieces of scenes I don’t need anymore. Which I never do, unless I have a pretty good idea of where the story is heading.

The thing is, I haven’t finished writing a book in years. YEARS. Life just got busy. I’d start projects for Wrimos and never got around to finishing most of them. Actually, the last book I started and finished, I wrote during the summer after my freshman year of college. Unfortunately, looking back, that was sort of a long time ago, now that I keep having these crazy things called birthdays every four seconds.

I remember how it feels to be so attached, and then have to let go.

I’m not ready.

I always like to say writing a book is like raising a kid. I don’t actually know what that’s like from personal experience, but it’s exactly what I imagine parenthood is going to be like for me someday. Sometimes it’s too exhilarating to be able to look away. Sometimes you just want to squish your face into a pillow and scream.

But as the story develops, so do you. You learn so much about yourself and about the idea growing and changing right before your eyes.

And then all of a sudden that tiny little idea is all grown up, packing its bags for college, not really needing you the way it used to.

Actual parents, don’t yell at me if I’m generalizing too much. Personifying the novel-writing process just makes it easier to describe to people who have never been through it before, and after years of trying, I just can’t seem to come up with a better analogy.

I don’t want to finish writing this book. It is my life. My world. When I’m not physically working on it, I’m thinking about it. All the time. Which might seem a little obsessive, if you’ve never been through this before.

But that’s what gets me through it. I set a goal to write 1,000 words a day, to keep myself on some kind of schedule even though I don’t really have a solid routine going right now. Sometimes I fly past that mark, but usually I hit it and have to move onto something else. That’s life. But it’s always on my mind. Characters randomly whisper their lines in my head. Especially when I’m trying to sleep.

I know it’s about time to say goodbye. Since April, when I started this project over basically from scratch, I’ve worried over it constantly. I know it can never be perfect, and at this stage in my life, that doesn’t disappoint me. I just wonder what’s going to happen when I finish this one, when it’s finally over.

Yet I know, deep down, exactly what will happen. I’ll close it out and file it away and return to it for editing only when I feel ready.

I need a break. I am exhausted. This story keeps wanting to branch off into a million directions, and that can’t happen. There’s only so much I can cram into one book. And there’s only so much, out of that, I even should.

I’m about to hit the 65,000-word mark, and while I know there’s probably a lot more to come, there isn’t much. I’m further from the midpoint than I realized. I’m going to guess that I really am less than a month away.

How did this happen?

I hope this feeling is normal, because it’s terrifying.

Love&hugs, Meg<3

Image courtesy of Novelty Revisions.