Another week dawns and we have work to do!
I was going to do another theme week, but we still have people catching up on last week’s lessons on writer’s voice.
So, instead we will do another small lesson and see if you can pick up a new tool for your writing shed.
Today we will talk about getting shit done.
It is one thing to start a project, another to keep it going, and yet another thing entirely to see it through to the end.
It is often said that the difference between a writer and an author is that the author finished.
So how do we keep going, even though we may not want to?
First, you have to decide if the project is worth finishing. Oddly enough, not every idea you have will make a great book. I won’t get too deep into it here (next week theme, perhaps?).
What you need to recognize, though, is that sometimes everything feels right and you just don’t want to continue with it anyway.
In these situations the best advice is not to shelve it, but instead to push a little harder. Get back on your horse and keep riding, so to speak.
Let’s take a look at the prompt, then I will continue the explanation.
April 12
Pick up your WiP, turn to the last chapter you wrote (bonus if it isn’t a complete chapter, yet). Read ONLY the last 2 sentences, then, write the rest of the chapter.
Picking up where you left off is one of the hardest things a writer can do. This is especially true if the project isn’t that exciting, or we happen to be in the middle of a boring part, or we’ve taken too long away from it, or…
Enough excuses. If you want to be a great writer, you are going to have to eat some shit once in a while. It is part of the author’s diet.
As gross as that sounds, if you truly think about it, you find it to be true.
While we all want to sit down, start writing and craft a perfect novel the first time out, it will never happen that way.
You are going to write some shit scenes, and you are going to have to eat them. By eat them, of course, I mean you are going to have to write them anyway, and fix them later.
The more shit you eat, the more your writing improves, which means in the future you won’t eat near as much shit.
Bonus!
One of the best ways to get back into your project and avoid the misery of it, is to not re-read the whole thing. Pick the last sentence or two that you wrote, and read only those.
Then you start writing again.
If you are at the end of a chapter, or don’t have a current WiP, then start a new project, chapter or pick a random chapter from a book on your shelf and rewrite the ending from some random point.
Practice getting to the end of the chapter. Then come back and tell me how motivated you are to start the next one.
