How to Complete a Manuscript Worthy of Publishing

Do you want to become an author, but struggle to get words on paper?

Many people struggle with negative self-talk or writer’s block that keeps them from finishing the manuscript. You hate your book while writing it. You spend a lot of time re-writing past chapters. You wrote yourself into a whole you can’t get out of. You don’t know where the story should go next so you stop writing. You don’t have a lot of time to commit to writing so it takes months or years to reach the end of a draft.

Does this sound familiar?

Here are some mental strategies to help you finish a manuscript worth publishing.

Set a Schedule. Do it Anyway.

Being an author is a business, not a hobby. The more you treat it like a hobby the less likely you are to finish a manuscript worth publishing.

When you have a job, there are set times that things happen. You have a clock-in and clock-out time. You have a scheduled break. You have pre-scheduled off days. There are regularly scheduled meetings.

Just as in any other job, there should be time where you clock-in to write. You can put in an hour a day, at the same time each day. You can have a 3-hour block 5 days a week. You can block off the months of April and July for Camp NaNo and November for NaNoWriMo. Any dedicated schedule like this will. Allow you to complete manuscripts.

Here is the thing though, you have to stick to it! If you set a daily alarm or calendar event only to ignore it, you’re doing yourself and your book a grave disservice. Don’t allow your lack of discipline keep you from being the next JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyers, Myron Golden, Mary Pope Osborne, Rich Riordan, or C.S. Lewis.

You are not just an author or writer. You are a business owner. So act like it.

Sandbox It.

Have you ever been at a bench and wanted to build a sandcastles? Sandcastles have to be build on the dryer, more stable section of the sand, but requires the wet sand in order to mold the castle.

You may make a trip or two to get started building, but soon after you’ll find yourself without the necessary sand to build. This leads to delays in building.

The same thing happens when writing.

Your book is a sandbox. You want to build a sandcastle grand enough to catch the eyes of the angels in Heaven. But you have to put sand in the box first. Successful writers use a method called “Sandboxing”. It is when you shovel sand (AKA words) into the box. You don’t care where or how those words land because you haven’t started sculpting.

Do not waste time doing edits while in the first draft! If you find that your book needs to go in a different direction just begin in that direction. Revision is the stage where you sculpt the sand into something worthy to be admired. But first, you need to put sand in the box. This will ensure that you have a full manuscript. When evising, you correct, refine, adjust, and clean up the necessary places to make your manuscript worthy of publishing.

And then you send it to a professional editor to make it even better!

Adopting theses mental strategies will help you make it to the finish line of publishing your book, because you’ll actually have a finished book to publish! To help you cross the finish line, connect with Sunflowers and Romance Publishing, a Christian hybrid publishing company.

Book a Publishing Consultation to learn the route of becoming a published author. This consultation won’t require you to be published under SAR, but will still give your guidance on the detailed steps to get a published book.

OR

Book a Book Interior Design Consultation to get your worthy manusciprt print ready according to industry standards.