© Veronika Rumko
Having a novel that you’ve started but haven’t finished isn’t going to bring you any rewards. By not finishing your novel, you not only deprive yourself of a big pat on the back for a great job done (one which most people will never do), you also deny the world the ability to benefit from your creativity. Read on to learn how to finish the novel you’ve started:
1. Focus on the novel
If you intend to get your novel finished, this alone won’t help you to do so. Strong intention needs to backed up by persist attention. With razor sharp focus, concentrate on getting your story completed and shipped. This will mean you need to make time to complete your novel.
In order to develop strong focus, you’ll need to remove distractions that are actually just wasting time. Spending too much time on social media is one thing. Rather than using half an hour for viewing and responding to updates from your friends on Facebook, instead devote this time to your novel. If you tend to watch three different soaps every evening on the television, reduce this to watching just one, and free up a couple of hours to get your book completed.
In order to get the task done, devote as much time as you can daily. Without making time to complete your novel, how will you ever complete it? Those things which have really meaning in your life are worth making time for.
2. Create a plan
They work for some. For others they don’t. However, project planning in general is a worthwhile activity. Plans give you a roadmap to consider where you are, what your end goal is and what you need to do to achieve the outcome.
If you’re struggling with finishing your novel, then write out a list of the activities you still need to, which could include things like writing chapters to completion, getting a sample of readers to read an early draft, incorporate feedback, editing and so on. Next to each activity, put an expected date to have it finished by. Review the plan once a week at a minimum, to see how you’re progressing.
3. Just do it
If you have dreams of being a famous author, and are finding it difficult to finish your novel, are there any unfounded beliefs that could be stopping you? I’m talking about those unconscious beliefs that you might not even be aware of it, such as I will never succeed as a writer. Although you might have such beliefs, the truth is no one really created them except you.
Therefore rather than blindly believe them, take some action and test whether such beliefs really hold true. Just get your novel finished already and see what happens. Any assignment is inherent with doubt and uncertainties, including a writing project. You might not be totally sure whether the end goal is going to be achieved in just the way you want it to. However, you can control your actions that will contribute to your ideal result.
Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.