10 Easy Tips for Finishing Your Manuscript
Finish Your Book with These 10 Quick Tips
- Half the battle is getting words on a page. Try dictating your story into a recording device that you can transcribe later. Or buy voice recognition software that types as you speak. Most laptops have that already installed. If neither of those excites you, just type, don’t edit as you go. Make yourself type without looking at the screen. Save your editing for another day because you can’t use both sides of your brain at the same time and expect to make progress.
2. Create what I call a “parking lot” where you store all the ideas, quotes, or other stories that don’t fit anywhere else. Go back to it regularly to see if you have found a place for them. If not, don’t use them. Maybe they are for another book altogether.
3. Try creating an outline, so you aren’t flying by the seat of your pants (i.e. a pantser). Getting organized may be exactly what you need to focus on each chapter’s topic.
4. Buy some sticky notes and a tri-fold science project board. Use them to organize and re-organize your manuscript by writing ideas on notes and moving them around when you realize a story works better in a different chapter or section.
5. Research, take polls using Facebook or SurveyMonkey. Interview people. Information collected from these resources make your book richer while you become an expert on the topic.
6. How is your writing environment? Create a place where you can be productive. Make sure the lighting and temperature is comfy, and your desk/chair is erognomically correct. Is the view from the window inspiring or distracting? Ideally, your writing nook should have a door you can close, to keep others from disturbing you.
7. Turn off your notifications on your phone and laptop. Commit to writing a certain word count each day.
8. Read more and watch TV less. Reading in your genre makes you a better writer. Watching movies is not nearly as productive unless you are writing a screenplay.
9. Join a writer’s group or attend a writer’s conference to learn your craft. Critiques from other writers provides much more honest and educated feedback than critiques from non-writers.
10. Create a One Sheet and proposal–even if you plan to self-publish. These documents help keep you focused and organized on the right thing…your audience. One Sheets and proposals force you to ask, “What’s in it for the reader?”
There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That’s a ridiculous myth some newspaper columnist made up as an excuse to his editor for being lazy. There are twenty more things you can do to become more productive in writing that book, but for now, implement these ideas and watch what happens. Now go write!
