Finishing the job

I wrote the first 100,000 words of the novel in just under three months.

The final chapters have taken six weeks. And counting.

The moral - finishing a book is hard. For really good advice on finishing a novel, Timothy Hallinan's website is invaluable. I've been referring to it regularly. But for some not-so-eloquently-expressed advice on finishing a novel, there's always me.

I have so many half-finished novels sitting in drawers and on my computer. I wish I had finished them all. Going back to an old unfinished novel rarely works. In the time away from it, you've changed. The book you would have written then is gone. You have to push through any resistance you feel and just get to the end of whatever you're writing, even if you think it's rubbish, because you learn so much from finishing a book. Even if it never sees the light of day. Even if it is actually terrible. It's worth finishing just for the lessons you'll learn. Of the books I have written, I have only completely finished four (hopefully five by the end of the week!), and each of them taught me something that acted as a stepping stone to the next (and better) one.

I am so close to the end of the book now. So ... very ... close. I can't wait. I really want to get it finished before the weekend, because I want to give all my attention to 48 Hours.