Monday

3 Reasons Why You Need to Finish Your Book


Life is hard. Time management is hard. Writing a book is an emotional roller-coaster. (Can I get an "amen" from all the other authors out there?) It steals your concentration for other tasks, keeps you awake at night writing or brainstorming, and consumes you until you feel you've made some progress for the day. But it's also a great adventure—a roller coaster worth riding.

I didn't go to college to be a writer. I didn't study the art of writing or the how-tos of constructing a plot or storyline. I wasn't born into a family of authors. 
I wasn't an expert by any means when I first began writing for an audience; but, I have learned these things along the way. 

When I started writing my first book, I was a reader and a journal writer with a passion for a good story. I felt I had a calling to write a book someday, but had no idea when or how. When the plot and storyline came to me like a hurricane uprooting my house, I knew I needed to sit down and put it into words or I'd never get over it. It was a burning passion that I knew my life would be incomplete without and I needed to finish it—despite its many challenges. (Especially because I had no idea what I was doing at first lol).

During my journey I learned that if writing a book were easy, everyone would write one. Why? Because I  found that there's nothing more creatively rewarding (in my opinion) than to dream, write, and finish a book. It's definitely a calling to be a career-writer, but if you have a story to tell and have already started writing it, you need to finish it. Why? Here are 3 reasons: 

1) You should always finish what you've started. There's nothing like starting a project and becoming unmotivated or overwhelmed during the process—only to give in and give up. You've done it, I've done it—we've all done it. It stinks. 

Friends and family ask us how it's going, not knowing we've already thrown in the towel. We experience the shame of confessing that we gave in to defeat and never finished the task. We make excuses and try to justify our failure, but in the back of our minds we know that it was us who chose to be defeated. Worst. Feeling. Ever. Don't let your manuscript for your novel fall into the same pile of regrets. Shake your fist at the challenges that arise during your quest to finish your work and refuse to settle for defeat. Figure out what's not working for you and brainstorm a solution to keep moving.

Trust me in this! You'll feel so good about yourself knowing that you set out to accomplish a task and did.

2) If you give up on finishing your book, it'll nag you for the rest of your life. Years down the road it'll resurface in your thoughts and make your stomach twist in regret. Don't do this to yourself. Those who live with regret in their old-age tend to be the meanest, most negative individuals that have ever walked the face of this planet. (You know the people I'm talking about!) No one likes to be around a Negative-Nancy. So, do yourself a favor and take care of anything today that could cause your future-self to live with regret. (This can apply to any area of our lives!)

3) You have a story to tell and the world deserves to hear it. You've worked hard brainstorming, outlining, writing line-after-line, constructing chapter-after-chapter. You've dreamed up those characters of yours, and to let their story go unfinished, would be like strangling the life out of them with your own typing fingers. 

You owe it to yourself and your characters to finish writing the story you've started and the world deserves a chance to read it—long after you've breathed your last breath. Your story will outlast you. Leave a legacy of words that your children and grandchildren will cherish, long after you're gone.

Writing a story is difficult. It's time-consuming. It's a battle that wages war over your mind, sleep and concentration. It's a roller coaster with many ups and downs. But it's also a journey worth taking.

Finish something today that your future-self will thank you for. Then do it again. ;)

What has been your biggest challenge for completing your novel? If you've finished the process, what helped you finish? Please share your tips in the comments below. :) 

-Heather

2 comments:

  1. This was a great reminder to stick with my book! I've had such a hard time trying to articulate what I want to say and still make it real. I guess a first draft is why it's called rough lol. Thanks for the motivation. I'm going to start working on it again this weekend.

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    1. Marly!
      I hear you! It's a struggle to finish a novel because it's such a big task. Not to mention the constant distractions that life throws at us. But I believe you could do it! If I could, then so could you. :) Good luck!

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