The Drive to Finish
It took me seven years to finish my first book. (I wrote about this in The War of Art.)
I couldn’t sell it. Couldn’t find a buyer. In fact, it would be twenty-one more years before a novel of mine actually saw the light of publication.
But finishing that first manuscript meant everything.
We talked in an earlier chapter about Resistance being the strongest at the finish line. It is. Resistance knows we’re about to defeat it. It summons all its genius and all its power to stop us.
How do we break through?
There’s a legend about Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, many more) that as he got close to the end on a novel, he would start getting up earlier and earlier to work on it. First it was six o’clock, then five, then four. Finally, he’d have to move out of the house, check into a hotel, just to keep from driving his wife crazy.
Michael Crichton was smart. He knew that as he approached the finish line, his inner Resistance would ramp up its intensity, trying to keep him from reaching THE END.
So Michael Crichton upped his own intensity.
Finish it. Don’t chicken out! FINISH THE DAMN THING!
That was how it worked for me in that first book, the one I could never sell, but that changed everything for me. And here’s the even better news, which I pass on to all of us struggling to get a make-or-break project across the finish line:
Once you finish—even one time, even on a project that ultimately fails—you will never have trouble finishing again.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
Absolutely love this. It’s so very true. You must summon it all and finish.
Artists can’t be quitters. Imagine the world if we did. Thanks, Steve.
wow, I like the way you said it!
Thank You and Thank you Steve
Thank you.
Yes. Wow. Yeah. Oy. Doh.
Still.
Almost done.
This helped.
Thanks.
With me, finishing is the most exciting part. The worst part is finding an agent to help you get published.
Russel,
This part is also where I meet the most resistance. And where I’m at now. We won’t quit. I need you to believe this so I can, too.
Okay now I know whats going on!
Thanks
Inspiring.
bsn
15 minutes a day … that’s how I finished my screenplay … once I got in the daily habit sometimes that 15 turned into 90 minutes … every day was different but always 15 minutes for sure