How to (Finally!) Finish Your Book

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For many people, starting a new manuscript is infinitely easier than finishing one. It makes sense – starting a book involves the fun and exciting parts of writing, such as world building, fleshing out characters, and coming up with plot twists. But when it comes to finishing a book, sitting in front of a Word document can become slow, grueling, or even boring. If you’re looking to finally finish a WIP you have in your Documents folder, of if you’re embarking on an ambitious writing challenge such as #NaNoWriMo or #FinishUrBookFall, watch this video to get in the right mental space to finally finish your book!
 
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GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE NOVELS:

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MORE WRITING RESOURCES:
 
HOW TO FINISH YOUR NOVEL: 
01:39 – Treat writing like a job
03:13 – Be flexible with word count
04:49 – Use placeholders
06:03 – Ignore your inner critic
07:04 – Plan your celebration
 
ABOUT ME: 
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with 7+ years of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
 
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MUSIC: 
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[imabodybuilder]

I finished my third draft this week and I'm in the process of distributing it to beta readers. It's been more than 20 years to reach this point. Tuesday I start the first draft of my second novel.

[joevaldez]

Fantastic video, Alyssa. Each of your tips are very helpful. For me, writing every day, which falls under Tip #1, is what has enabled me to finish my book. Age has helped as well. I find that when I have a scene to write, I am far more capable of using books I've read, stories I've read or overheard, and experiences I've been through to get through a scene. That is so much more fluid for me at age 50 than age 25, when really all I knew about was going to school, and poorly at that.

[vicjames]

Oooo I like the placeholder advice. I love a good rabbit hole, to my detriment. Thank you!!

[dinagamelas]

I'm at around 30k words in my 1st draft and still going. What motivates me to finish is finally getting to share the story, I wonder how it'll be perceived. Plus it is always great to hear your kind words of encouragement Alyssa. Thank you🙏

[whitneylivingston]

I finished my first draft when I was laid off during COVID shut downs. I finished it at 135K words and by the end of all revisions and editing it’s now under 95K and will be published next August.

[alancook]

Thanks A. In a way the hardest part is when you know you can almost see the end. But the more you pursue your objective the more you learn. You've got to believe in yourself no matter what. Writing is hard, but so is any art. If it was just easy it wouldn't be worth doing. Ignore the fact that Picasso could knock off a masterpiece in half an hour! Writing is so multifaceted with so much to control. But practice makes perfect enough to call it a day.
There's no end set in stone. It's a decision that gets easier to make the more you do it.

[cjpreach]

My 1st Draft was 49K word count, and I'm an underwriter planning 70-80K for my 13th and final draft.

[susanbrougher]

My first novel is done at 80, 000 words. I am on the second and it's going much smoother after learning from your videos and from the writing experience itself. Research was time consuming for me. I was the rabbit hole girl and spent lots of time reviewing things I either couldn't find later or never even needed to start with. Now the idea to plan a reward is really important since the agent search is on. I have a delayed purchase in mind for when I get a publishing contract. Fun just to think of it on the way so I don't care if I act on the reward or not! Thanks again. Your upbeat attitude is wonderful.

[TurtleJulia]

Thank you, just in time for NaNoWriMo!

[dueling_spectra]

The celebration isn't supposed to be the joy of editing? Opps! 😜
Great video, full of practical suggestions.

[Redskirt]

I laughed out loud when you mentioned googling murder techniques. 😄 I've googled so many violent things, I worry I'll get flagged somehow as a serial killer. I imagine trying to explain to the FBI..."really, I'm a writer!" They're always skeptical, lol.

[garrett]

Everybody's hot such wonderful stories. I am on chapter 1.
But it's version 1, 885 so I really think I have it right this time.

[clintoreilly]

As motivating as always, Alyssa. Thanks. Again, I'm loving the newsletters, your videos and the self-assessment sheet. Keep well. Keep posting :)

[learnloveteachrepeat]

I think I’ve finished my memoir… going watch your other video to see if my ending might suck 😬

[andyclark]

I'm of course planning to binge Alyssa Matesic videos when I finally release my book to agents. I do fairly well at drafting - frankly I love the process. I'll say one thing that helps me is that I'm part of a writing group, and I think that's been a big help throughout my book's wandering path. What I've struggled with is getting to the end of revisions. There may be some perfectionism at play, but part of what happened is that I got the draft down, but along the way thought of interesting things to add, so I put them in. Taking them out has been a tougher process, but I think I'm there.

[alvinlewis]

I just finished my book 30000 words so proud of myself 🎉

[markkosaka]

Needed this video!!! Thanks Alyssa! BTW...where's your dog?

[theunfathomableofspiritual]

Iam doing NaNoWrimo😊 day 3. 4045 words♥️ iam really trying out everything - this would be my 4rth book. The others Don't have an Outlining or structure at all. So now I try to add this all to My NaNoWrimo book, 💪♥️ Thank you for your Tips! 😊❤️👍

[Axxman]

When I get stuck on a research detail I underline the text and keep moving. The underlines make it easy to find the problems later.

[alexandernorman]

I don't think I can just not worry about word count. I'm at more than 112K now and I need *at least* another 35K to finish. It's Sci-fi, and so I understand the upper limit for the safe zone is 120-125K. I've known for a while now that I would have to cut at the end. Trying to chop off 25K (or likely more) at the end sounds way too hard. So, I'm now going back with editing, finding and eliminating repetition, trying to be more concise with description and dialogue, etc. I'll be doing that for a good part of November. I'm hoping to reduce a few K from what I have and then write for a target of 135K or so. That will leave me with a much more manageable cut at the end.