Writing tips: Suffering from Unfinished Manuscriptitus?

Several months after I started writing, I found myself surrounded by notebooks - suffering from Unfinished Manuscriptitus! An idea would pop up and - fast & furious - I'd dive in, like a new love affair. But, eventually, and long before writing "The End," that idea would lose its shine and a new, brighter, more compelling idea would come along. (Not unlike the new guy who starts to seem so much more appealing than the current boyfriend when reality sets in and you realize current guy is not Mr. Perfect.)

Many writers suffer from this malady and never get beyond it, and I was pretty sure I was terminal. But - I was fortunate enough to attend a writers' conference where two ladies gave a breakout session on writing your first draft in 30 days (not unlike NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.) Well, I had tried NaNo before - more than once even - and had failed - miserably. But, I went to this session, hoping these ladies had a secret, something that would cure my ills. And... they did!

What was it? Well... aside from the hard copy calendar that I posted over my writing space & filled in with my daily word count goal -- (and aside from insisting that instead of chasing Shiny New Idea, I jot it in a notebook, not to be looked at until 1st draft WAS completed) -- they suggested telling people that I was writing a novel. But, not just any people... they said I needed to tell that one person who would look at me when I didn't finish it and say, "Huh. Is anyone surprised you didn't finish? I could've told you you'd never do it."

Yep - tell the one person who would revel in your failure. Aaack!!! (Of course, I'm good at taking direction, so, I did tell that person.)

Uh... 16 days. That's what it took for me to complete the 1st draft of a MG ghost story I'd been thinking about for over ten years. Those 16 days even included a major set-back of losing 8K words during a thunderstorm. But, I persevered - had a 3-day weekend in the mix - and finished! Yay!

That same year, in November, I tried NaNoWriMo -- again. The result of that NaNo ended up being XVI.

So - what might work for you, if you suffer from Unfinished Manuscriptitus, is

• a calendar with space for word count tracking
• setting a daily goal, and then
• telling your worst friend you're writing a book!

Feel Better!!!