Unfinished Business

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Without effective work habits, your half-finished novels, plays, and articles won’t get completed and won’t be published. Plain and simple. But unfinished writing business causes even more serious trouble. It breeds discouragement, lowers self-esteem, and causes a dramatic loss of energy. And this loss of writing energy, sooner or later, could mean the death of your writing dreams.

Sound melodramatic and far-fetched? It’s not. This is why.

Three Stages

There are three main phases of any writing project. In Stage One we find the idea, do the necessary research, and make the outline. Then we move to Stage Two, creating the rough draft of the project. Stage Three entails all the revising that takes us to “The End.” Productive, efficient work habits carry us from Stage One to the completion of the writing cycle.

Completing a project generates a sense of energy, power, and increased creativity. (Remember the last time you finished an article and mailed it off, or printed out the last chapter of your revised novel to submit? Do you recall the euphoric high, even if you were exhausted?) Although you might take a break from your writing for a few days or weeks following the completion of a project, your mind is free to contemplate the next idea. Even during a break, your brain will be on auto-alert, scanning your environment for ideas, angles, plot twists, and intriguing characters, ready to begin the writing cycle all over again.

On the other hand, without productive writing habits, you’ll leave many writing proj­ects abandoned. What’s wrong with that?

Draining

Incomplete projects suck your writing energy away. Unfinished business of any kind drains a person. Gazing at a cluttered desk or a sink full of dirty dishes left from last night’s party reminds me that I need a nap. Ruminating on an unfinished argument with my teenager makes me want to slump down in front of the TV. Unfinished projects—whether it’s the unpacked moving boxes or the half-written novel gathering dust on your desk—drain your energy. You can feel it dribble right out the ends of your typing fingers.

Most of us believe that we begin our days with a limited amount of energy. It’s based on our health, how well we slept, our age, and what we ate for breakfast. We use our quota of energy during the day, then must rest to rebuild our depleted stores. This belief is false!

Experiment

Prove it to yourself. Instead of resting the next time you feel lethargic, choose to tackle some unfinished business. Unpack a few more boxes. Finish edging the flower bed you weeded yesterday. Wash your car. Clean off your desk and file that pile of bills and correspondence. Now how do you feel? Even more tired and depleted? No! And here’s why: You’ve actually generated energy by revving up your creative cycle and propelling these unfinished projects toward completion.

Once you get moving, then tromp on your accelerator and really give it some gas. Instead of unpacking at a snail’s pace, play some military march music and pick up your tempo. Crank up your speed as you ply your spade. Moving through the completion cycle at a higher velocity increases your energy twofold. Try it and see!

Get Moving!

How does all this apply to your writing? When you’re stalled somewhere along the way in the writing cycle (whether it’s gathering research for your book on Indian art or doing the final polishing on your whodunit), your energy becomes depleted. The longer you procrastinate, the more tired you get. Unless you get your cycle moving again, eventually you’ll pack the novel away in a drawer and stash your research materials in the basement. Despondent, you’ll believe you don’t have the talent, the perseverance, or the determination to succeed.

What you’ve really done is unintentionally sabotage yourself by allowing unfinished business to sap your precious writing energy.

Self-Sabotage

We often try to remedy the situation by jerking ourselves up by the bootstraps and setting ambitious goals. As an isolated activity, that just creates more unfinished business. Instead, come up with a more modest, practical goal (“I’ll set the alarm earlier and write for an hour before work”) and write it down. So far so good—but it’s only Stage One in creating a new energy cycle.

Stage Two would encompass the first week you experiment with this goal. Some days you’ll write brilliantly, some days your dog will join you at dawn’s early light and demand a walk, and some days you’ll doze off at the keyboard. You’ll be tempted to discard your plan. Don’t! You’ll be dissipating the energy that got you this far.

You need to move to Stage Three for completion. Review and revise your morning strategy to accommodate the early rising dog. (Perhaps you can give him a good walk the night before?) Take care of your drowsiness with extra-strong coffee or (even better) going to bed earlier. Revise your morning strategies until the kinks are worked out. This will complete the cycle and give you a writing habit you can count on.

Inventory

Establishing effective writing habits will help you complete the projects you start. When you complete your manuscripts, you experience increased energy, personal power, satisfaction, and pleasure. So next time you experience lethargy in your writing—or in your life—don’t take a break right away. Instead take an inventory of unfinished projects. Make a list. Decide which ones you really want to finish. Then overcome your inertia and take the first small step in that direction. Then take another. And another.

You’ll be amazed, as you gather speed, how fast your projects are completed and how much energy you have left! Beginning a project with enthusiasm and energy is a fine thing. But although you may grow tired in the second phase, completing a project will once again rejuvenate your enthusiasm and boost your energy—just in time for your next writing project!

Copyright ©  2002-2007 Kristi Holl.  No part of the electronic media to which this notice is appended may be reproduced or redistributed in any form or manner without the express written permission of Kristi Holl.