3. Getting finished

Getting finished – and why that’s just the start: Starting may be a matter of compulsion, but finishing can be a slog. I can’t seem to help darting off and writing the exciting bits while they’re forming in my head, including the opening and dénouement, and then have to laboriously fill in all the bits in between. But whatever your approach, you still have to get the words down. It takes time. There are no short cuts. Thinking about the whole thing can be daunting. I broke it down into small bits. Like this. Every 1000 words that fell out of me at midnight brought me one step closer. Until, suddenly, I was nearly finished. The great thing about writing, I remind myself, is this: You’re making all this stuff up! It’s all coming from you, your fevered brain, your knowledge and experience and above all – imagination. Nothing is right or wrong and you can always change it later. Just write, enjoy it, the blanks will fill themselves in the end. Before you know it your masterpiece is finished. Only… when you’ve sat back and relaxed, congratulated yourself, celebrated with good company, food and fine wine and generally done something else for a fortnight, you pick it up to read and the truth hits you – what you have is not a book, it’s a draft. Reach for a red pen, and get fixing.