At the heart of the issue of finishing your book is time management. Even if the issue that is causing you problems is the dreaded writer's block. You must dedicate time to writing in order to eventually work your way through the block. In many regards, writing is no different than many other endeavors in that it requires a significant amount of personal investment.
No one can expect to become a great piano player, painter, major league baseball player or a great "anything else" without a consistent investment of time. Even those who are gifted in a given area need to invest time in order to truly become great!
Thus time management is critical for your success as a writer, and time management is largely a product of your mindset. It’s so important that I have carved out a whole chapter (Chapter 3) of this book, specifically focusing on this subject of organizing your time. So before you start writing make sure that you are aware of any environment and time constraints that you personally have. You may have to change your mindset regarding how you spend your time and your day.
At first, such a task may seem very foreign to you, especially if you do not like to structure your time. You might feel that such an activity is limiting and unnaturally ‘robotic.’
However, reorganizing the time in your life is ironically liberating, not limiting, and is a key step in acquiring the mindset necessary to write your book!
The second key step is to believe that you can indeed finish! If you feel that finishing is impossible, no matter how hard you try, then you've instantly shifted your reality in that direction. After all, do you know anyone who has finished any major project when they believed all the while in his or her heart that it was impossible?
By reorganizing your time and believing that you can and will finish your book or novel, your chances for success will blossom. You will also discover that as you write more, your writing will become better, more polished and more of what you've always wanted it to be. Many people are intimidated by the act of writing, but if you want to be a writer, you have to overcome your fears!
Writers ‘in embryo’ say to themselves often, "I have written a book. I am an author. I have a voice in the world!" Vision, along with will-power, faith, determination and organization are all key aspects of "making it happen."
Remember that writing is usually a solitary act. While that means that you are the one in control, it also means that you have to motivate yourself. Part of this motivation is, of course, believing in yourself and realizing that with the right mindset, time and dedication you will in fact accomplish your goals! Your attitude truly is the deciding factor of your success. With this in mind, also know that you don’t have to do it alone. In fact, you shouldn’t do it alone. People that succeed have what others and I call an accountability partner. You may think of this accountability partner as a coach, mentor or teacher. The best person for this job is somebody that has finished what you are trying to accomplish.
Let’s go back to the example I gave earlier of someone trying to lose weight. Having someone there who has lost weight cheering you on is going to significantly increase your chances of succeeding. My advice is to find someone who has written a book and then ask him or her to help you. Once you have found someone, make sure that they are committed and consistent in helping you to accomplish your goal. Picking the wrong person could backfire.
Breaking down your book into numerous smaller chunks, such as chapters and sections within chapters, you will start off in the right direction. If you see your book as being a task rather than an opportunity, then you won’t have much fun doing it. Change your thoughts from “I have so many pages to write,” to “I want to write more today, but I hit my goal and I need to do other things.”
By breaking down your book idea into a series of small steps, you will find that not only is the job no longer daunting, but it may even seem quite manageable. Once again, your entire challenge is one of perspective and mindset. With the right mindset, you will be able to welcome the opportunity of writing your book and accomplish the results that might just surprise you and others as well! Now that is something to get excited about!
Take a deep breath and relax! This book contains all of the secret ingredients you will need to succeed. Slow down and focus on your mind and not the book at this point. In fact, you could be in for a surprise when you learn that you shouldn’t actually start writing for a while yet. We have some work to do on your brain first.
Here is what I need you to do: Stop thinking about writing the book and start thinking about finishing the book. That may sound strange, but stay with me here.
You need to trick your brain. It should come as no surprise that most people are more comfortable with talking as opposed to writing. Your brain is wired to allow you to speak in an easy and free flowing way. After all, you have been speaking and expressing your thoughts verbally since you were just a baby. However, when you try to put words on paper, sometimes the brain stutters. As a result, the writing process tends to be nowhere near as fluid as the speaking process.
In order to write without any type of blockage, it is important to switch over your brain’s “wiring.” Try to focus on allowing ideas to flow from your mouth directly to your hand or cursor. Through this process, you will become more and more adept at allowing your hand/fingers to translate your mind’s ideas. It might take practice, but you will find that the more you practice writing, the better you will be at it. Have you ever thought about speaking your book instead of writing it? Think about that. I’ll discuss this option further in another chapter.
You are likely familiar with the data processing associated with the right and left hemispheres of your brain. In general, the right side of your brain tends to be more emotional, intuitive and creative. On the other hand, the left side of your brain deals with logic and order. One issue that keeps many people from writing in a productive manner is that the right and left sides of their brain conflict with each other.
Creating a sense of flow when you are writing is no problem for the right side of your brain. In fact, if it were up to the right side of your brain, you would likely never encounter writer’s block.
However, the left side of your brain is in charge of critical thinking. As such, its job is to edit, scrutinize and criticize your work. Have you ever sat down, attempting to write, but quickly found yourself throwing in the towel? Perhaps you began telling yourself, “This isn’t good enough! I should give up.” If so, these thoughts were stemming from the left side of your brain. Further, the left side of your brain will also start to scrutinize your spelling and grammar. These issues can also shut down the free flow of ideas that are necessary for writing. Later on, we’ll discuss some strategies to help you write faster.
One of the keys to writing your book is to realize that the different hemispheres of your brain are working against one another. Instead of letting your brain “battle it out,” the trick is to start taking advantage of your brain’s potential. Let the right side of your brain win and you will find success in writing a book.
When you allow yourself to break free from your internal critic, you will find that the end result is not only more creativity, but also of a higher level of quality.
Let’s return to my statement, “Stop thinking about writing the book and start thinking about finishing the book” and talk about it for a moment.
Stop – This powerful word means to “abandon a specified practice or habit.” - http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/stop
Thinking about writing the book – right now we are not going to focus on starting the writing process. This will come later.
Start