One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve continued to write books, is that there is more than one ingredient essential to help you get unstuck and finish your book.

It’s not enough to power through it. It’s not enough to simply schedule it in your calendar.

It’s not enough to repeatedly tell yourself that you’ll finish your book.

For most writers, it takes more than the willingness to power through it to actually do the difficult job of writing and finishing their book.

My lessons learned from writing and struggling to finish books, is that it’s not just one thing that helps to take you to the finish line. There are many different factors that inspire, motivate and help move each of us as writers toward the dream of holding our very own book in our hands.

For instance, I’ve learned that if I lack a clear vision for the overall book, I won’t have a clear strategy to hit the target. If I lack passion for the book I’m writing, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, then that lack of passion will stop the flow of work and cause me to stay stuck, unable to finish. If I lack commitment to simply sitting down to write consistently, then the hard part of put words on the blank page won’t get done.

Today I thought I’d share a short excerpt of what I’ve been writing lately in a new book that hopefully inspires and encourages you to write and Finish Your Book….

 

 

3 C’s that help you reach the finish line of your book…

There are so many details to remember when we’re writing a book, that we can feel so overwhelmed or lost in the information that we stop writing altogether.

This feeling of being stuck and lost in the middle of the book has happened to me many times. Maybe you can relate?

I’ve learned along the way that there are three big factors that need to be figured out for writers to really feel inspired, motivated and have a clear direction to finish their book.

Below is an excerpt from Chapter One… 

“There will be a time when the world needs you to be courageous, when your friends and family count on you, when your dreams are on the line, when giving up won’t make sense anymore, when the power of love begs to break through. That time is now.” 

Brendon Burchard, Life’s Golden Ticket

When we realize we want to write a book, many times it’s a dream that floats in and out of our imagination in some sort of hazy form. 

Many people aspiring to write their books, have a picture in their minds of holding their book in their hands, but are a little unclear and perhaps a little afraid about the unknown process of taking their idea from blank page to finished book.

That’s how it was for me when I started writing. I had no idea what it would take to get my book idea into the hands of readers. I had no idea how long it would take me to write my story. I had no idea even if I could write my story.

All I knew was that there was a voice inside me, compelling me to tell my stories. It wouldn’t let me go and I knew I needed to at least try.

It’s at this place of honest passion to tell the stories inside of us, that we as writers and storytellers begin.

So many mixed emotions battle inside of us as we begin our dream of writing a book. Excitement to fulfill our writing dream and hold our book in our hands, fear of rejection by readers and worry of tackling the unknown and unfamiliar.

How do you embrace the stories inside of you that wants to come out, in spite of all the resistance against you?

By choosing to bravely uncover the secret treasures inside of you anyway.

To find hidden treasures inside of you, it’s important for writers to start at the very beginning: find your big why that compels you toward your writing dream.

Start at the very beginning

“This I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” 

Elizabeth Gilbert,  Big Magic

So how do you go about getting clarity on your reason for writing this book? How do you find the gems that are hidden inside of you?

You need to start at the very beginning, much like you did when you were a small child. It’s important to follow where your curiosity, wonder and excitement takes you.

Small children just let their curiosity lead the way and that’s how they discover what makes them happy, sad, or what is the most exciting or interesting to them. They are naturally led to that which creates wonder and passion inside them.

So should you.

However, that’s easier said than done. The truth is, many times as adults we have learned through the school of hard knocks, that we will face rejection, criticism or failure when we take a risk and begin those things we are passionate about doing.

So, because of the painful wounds and disappointments from our past: we’ve learned to be afraid to embrace our dreams. We’ve learned to hold back and procrastinate on stepping out into the unknown to follow our curiosity.  We’ve learned to stay safe and instead shy away from digging too deeply inside ourselves to find those nuggets of gold and to follow our passions.

We’ve learned that anything more than staying in our comfortable, safe and predictable jobs and day-to-day patterns, will cause us disappointment and pain. So we choose to play it safe and not take the risk, because anything else is too scary.

I know the mind games fear can play, because I grew up afraid of so many things.

Growing up on a farm and the youngest of eleven children, gave me a lot of scary moments. I watched helplessly as my sister fell down from a fifteen foot tree-fort, I fell through the ice in the creek while skating, the bull chased me when I would get the cows from the far pasture, I got zapped by the electric fence more than once and the list of scary things goes on and on.

Out of all those fears, nothing was quite as devastating as being excited to tell stories in elementary school, and hearing from my teacher that my writing was like chicken scratchings.

I stopped writing for over twenty years and it wasn’t until I started homeschooling our four children and teaching them to write stories, that the passion and dream to write stories came back to me.

I began writing in a little notebook, secretly for awhile, afraid of my own dream. But once I started, I couldn’t help but continue to keep going back to my little notebook and writing a little more.

My dream for writing stories grew until finally I started a novel in earnest and after I learned from other writers how to self-publish my book, I finally got it out into the world in 2013.

Somehow the clarity of vision and dream came back to me.

1.Clarity of  Vision

A vague idea to write your book once in a while, will make finishing it, haphazard at best. I know this from personal experience. When I wrote my first novel, I didn’t start with any sort of plan, other than that I wanted to write a historical romance. So, I just started writing. I didn’t begin with any sort of idea of where I was going or any plan for when the novel should be done.

I didn’t really have clarity on what my novel was about or when I wanted it to be finished.

The result was that this novel took the longest to write. It took me a little more than five years to finish that first book.

This is why it’s so important to get clarity.

Asking yourself questions is another really great way to bring clarity to your vision.

Here is a sampling of some of the questions I start to ask myself when I have an idea for a book: Who am I? What are some universal themes in my life that make me relatable to my readers?(some examples of this are going broke, losing someone or something, etc).

What are the stakes I’m facing? What are my fears or limiting beliefs? How have I self-sabotaged or self-sacrificed n my life? What was the resistance I faced. What was the first shift that caused me to go in a new direction? What are two options that were in front of me? Why did I choose the path I chose?

Asking and answering these kinds of questions really helps us to discover our why and the passion behind why we are writing the books we do.

Next, you can narrow down your questions and ask more questions about your specific book:  What am I passionate to write this specific book? What are stories that I’ve read and themes in my own life that really resonate with me?  What are stories I’ve read and themes that I relate to? How does this book fit into my overall long-term plan as an Indie Author?

One of the best ways to get really clear on your goals and vision, is to write out your mission statement as an author.

You might be wondering what is a mission statement?

It’s a brief description of an individual or company’s purpose. It sets out the goals, purpose and work of a person or organization. A mission statement clearly defines your values, ethics and fundamental goals.

When I was trying to get clear on my own mission statement as an author, it took me a few drafts to get it to where I thought this said what I wanted it to say.

I walk you through my mission statement below. Maybe it’ll help you as you write your own.

I want to use my life experiences, my love of adventure and life to create compelling stories and characters to bring hope and healing to cause readers to feel in new and deeper ways.

I want to be continually learning and to find new ways to improve my storytelling craft with every new fiction or nonfiction book I write.

My goal is to create a body of work that reaches many readers and by doing that to write stories of hope and love for readers. Also to help many new writers to have their own aha moments that they really can have a fresh start, that they can begin again, that they can write the books they love and make money with their writing.

That’s my mission statement as a writer. I usually tweak it a little every year as I learn and grow about myself, my passions and as I learn how my passions intersect with what others say helps them in their own struggles to write their stories.

When you have your mission statement written down and a deep understanding of the reason you are writing, this is critical to your focus, clarity and your motivation as a writer.

Know this, will help you move forward at an accelerated pace.

In the end, this will save you time because you’ll be so clear on who you are and what you offer to the world.

When you are clear on your vision, you won’t climb the wrong mountain.

 

2.Clarity of Passion

Another important piece of the puzzle is clarity of passion. While it’s great to ask yourself a bunch of questions to narrow down your vision for writing, it’s also important to get clear on why your passionate about something.

Here’s an important part of discovering and getting clarity of passion. You can’t just think your way toward finding your passion, you have to act your way to your truth, from the inside out.

I  can only tell you this is true from my own experience.

For example, for years I wanted to write a book. I thought about it, but always  would talk myself out of it, usually because of fears that held me back. Finally when i was homeschooling our four children, I mentioned it to my husband that I might like to try to write a novel.

He encouraged me to get started.

It wasn’t until I put pen to paper and started writing that I realized how good it felt to write stories. Even though my own limiting beliefs kept trying to claw their way back into my subconscious and conscious mind, I continued to write just a little consistently. It was the action of describing my characters and putting words to the settings I saw in my mind’s eye, that felt so good.

Writing stories and coming up with words that matched the movie playing in my mind was an amazing feeling. It was freeing. It was wonderful.

I share this with you to encourage you to take action on your writing dream today.

By the simple act of writing for ten minutes on a book you’ve been thinking about for awhile, you’ll discover that spark of passion.

It really is magical, when you begin to be actively engaged doing something you suspect might be your passion.

When you bring your full focus and attention to your writing, pouring your heart and soul into it like you really want to, you’ll begin to see a shift toward more creativity and insight.

This shift to more creativity as I move towards what I am really passionate doing, is something I’ve experienced on two levels: as a singer songwriter and also as writer of fiction and nonfiction.

I discovered as I wrote songs and poured my heart into them that it really resonated with the passion inside me, doing this resonated with more listeners. I’ve discovered this also with writing.

But you have to be willing to be vulnerable and write your story. 

And to commit to a regular writing process.

 

3.Clarity of Commitment

As soon as we decide we’re going to be committed to writing and finishing our book, that seems to be when self-doubt, fear and other limiting beliefs show up to challenge our commitment.

Our rational mind taunts us with questions like: I was never any good at writing, this won’t work; What if I fail? What if nobody reads my book?  What if my family and close friends mock what I’m doing and tell me I’m ruining my life by committing so much time to writing?

If you’ve ever ask yourself any of the questions above, I want to tell you you’re not alone. All the writers I’ve interviewed and talked with struggle with self-doubt and fear in one or more areas of their writer’s journey.

Self-doubt and fear have been some of my biggest struggles. The result has been many days and weeks of procrastination or other forms of self-sabotage that have caused me to lose what traction I might have gained.

It never fails, that as soon as you finally find what you love to write, that’s when some form of resistance shows up to challenge your new-found commitment to finish your book.

Sometimes when you get to this place of  resistance fear and self-doubt creeps in gnaws away at your self-confidence.

This is when we begin to judge our writing as good or not so good.

Doubt about ourselves and our writing is normal for writers, but don’t let that stop you from writing your story.

In the past couple years as I’ve begun to write more often and more consistently, I’ve realized how similar writing is to many other practices.

My Lessons Learned from Gruelling Vocal Practice

Writing is similar to learning to sing. You are learning to lay down track each time you practice and you are developing your own sound and rhythm as you continue to learn and progress.

I’d like to share with you my story of learning to sing and how through trial and error developed a regular practice to improve my singing.

I remember when I was around thirteen years old, I wanted to learn to sing better, so I started at the beginning and began learning.  My teacher told me to practice at least five days a week, because my voice was squeaky and very often my tone was flat. I was discouraged that I didn’t sound as good as many other singers I had heard, but I wanted to learn to sing so badly, that I decided I would practice just like she told me to.

I thought maybe, just maybe I would get better at singing.

I had lessons with this teacher for a couple of years before either of us saw any noticeable improvement. Finally I learned what it meant to sit on top of a note, and how to sing from my diaphram instead of my chest voice. I had to do all sorts of weird and embarrassing exercises like lying down flat on the hard floor and singing, because when you sing in that position it ensures that  you are singing from your diaphram. I would sing with my arms flailing over my knees as if I was trying to touch my toes. Again this was to so my teacher could double check that I was using my head voice and breathing deeply using my diaphram.

Gradually I got better at singing. When I went away from home to a boarding school for the last two years of High School, I took singing lessons again and I was in a high school singing group that travelled to different cities and was also in a trio that sang for special occasions. When I went to Bible College, I was lucky enough to be able to continue with singing lessons and toured in a singing group for each of the four years I was there.

Then a couple years after I graduated, I had this idea that I’d like to learn more music – both voice and piano – and study at a university. I had recently been married, and my hubby agreed this would be a good step for me to continue to develop musically. So we moved back near the city where he grew up and I was accepted into the Bachelor of Music program for both piano and voice, which meant I had to choose. I chose singing as my Major, because it was my passion.

I took weekly lessons where I not only had to learn to sing in five different languages but also had to go to a soundproof room in the basement area of the University to practice five days a week. While in the practice room, my voice teacher said I needed to stand in the corner(this helps you hear your sound better) and sing for most of the hour of practice time. She said I had a vocal break between my high B and high F sound and I needed to push past that vocal break so my voice could get to an even tone and a new freedom of sound.

It was so gruelling to sing the same musical phrases over often ten times in a row and then move onto the next musical phrase in each piece where I was experiencing a problem in vocal tone, language pronunciation or where my voice cracked.

   I remember arriving at the weekly Voice MasterClasses which included all the singing students, hoping against hope that my voice teacher wouldn’t call my name because I feared the criticism and rejection. I didn’t want to hear about all the things I was doing wrong yet again. Many times I went home after those classes and just cried because I was so frustrated with my voice, frustrated with myself and frustrated with all the criticism from my teacher and my peers(even though I knew they were right).

I was scared I wouldn’t ever get any better at singing.

The good news is that after those first two years of really intense vocal practice, I was able to push through that vocal break to sing with a new clarity and freedom of sound. All this practice I learned later, had also increased my vocal range to three and a half octaves. Some of the perks were I was accepted into the University Singers choral group and asked to sing solos in some of my favourite arias and spirituals at different concerts in the area.

The reason I share that story, is only to encourage you in your own writing practice. Remember, that no matter how awful you feel your writing is right now or how much you feel like your writing is filled with holes, cracks and rejection, just know that with regular practice you can and will get better at writing.

Granted, sometimes the constant writing practice will feel gruelling and you might cry with frustration and want to quit like I did with singing(and with writing if truth be told).

However, as much as you might want to quit, I encourage you to stick with it. Keep writing. You don’t have to write perfectly, you just need to keep at it.

To be able to stick to a consistent writing practice, you need to get crystal clear on your vision for writing and keep it in front of you every time you write.

End of Excerpt from Chapter One

 

What is your big why for your writing dreams?  Please do share in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you 🙂