How to Motivate Yourself to Finish Your Book

Writing a book is hard work and it takes time. It’s easy to get discouraged when you’re halfway through something and you just can’t think of the next thing to write, or you just can’t face sitting in front of the computer (or opening a notebook, if you’re writing your book longhand) for one more minute. Some ideas that might help are take a break, work according to a schedule, or give yourself a deadline.

If you’ve been working so long on your book that you just can’t face another minute on it, rather than give up on it completely, take a break. If you don’t want to take a break from writing completely, how about starting work on a new book? Maybe write a short story, or an article for a magazine or blog. Writing can be great fun, and if you give yourself something else to work on, when you’re ready to get back to writing your book, you’ll be refreshed.

Another thing to try is set a schedule and stick to it. Give yourself a goal of a certain number of words per day, or a certain amount of time to write, and then do it. Every day you’ll be a step closer to finishing your book!

Last, give yourself a deadline to finish your book. Are you close enough to the end that you can finish it in a month if you work hard? How about by the end of the year? If it helps you stick to the deadline, tell someone and have him or her hold you accountable. If I know someone’s going to be checking on me, I’m much more motivated to do things I said I’d do.

Do you have any tips to keep yourself motivated? I’d love to hear them! Please write to me here or at http://www.jexbo.com/!