Finish Your Story

As I write this, I am under a heap of blankets in my bright yellow bedroom. "Believe" by Mumford & Sons is playing for the fifth or sixth time. My window is open a crack, and it just started raining. The birds are still singing, though, and the forest my window overlooks is desperately reaching up to the sky for water, buds just dying to break open. The sky is gray and my house is silent. It's going to be an amazing writing day.

Welcome back for another A-Z Challenge post, here at AM Station. If you've been here before, wow, thanks for coming back, you must be crazy, too! If you're new to this insanity I call my blog, brace yourself.

Growing up, I had a tendency not to finish my stories. This wasn't due to laziness (well, maybe a little), but mostly due to the abundance of ideas that plagued (blessed?) my brain. It was so hard for me to just stick with one thing, especially when there were so many things to write. In fact, I didn't start "finishing" my stories until recently.

Like most problems in life, it is important to identify the places where you are likely to fail so you are prepared. Writing a novel/short-story/whatever is the same way. What are the obstacles that prevent you from finishing your novel?

For me, my list would look something like:

1. Too many ideas
2. Laziness
3. Intimidation (of writing a novel, of not finishing)

Once laziness and intimidation got on the scene, writer's block is sure to occur. So, how do I beat these challenges and press forward? I set a battle plan, which resembles this:

1. See if I can incorporate any of the new ideas into whatever project I'm working on.
2. Write down the ideas that have been exploding in my brain.
3. Take a break from my WIP and just do a little outlining or planning for a new project.
4. Keep writing. No matter what.

Another thing that disabled me from completing a story for so long was the fear that it wasn't good enough. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that everyone struggles with this one in some form or another.

Well, of course it isn't good enough to be a bestseller or be published. But right now, it's good enough to be a first draft. And that's exactly what it is supposed to be. 

If this is something you're struggling with, just KEEP WRITING. Push past insecurities and other ideas swimming around in your brain, and cling tight to your story. Also, sometimes it helps to hand whatever you're writing to a writing friend to look it over. THE WORLD NEEDS YOUR STORY! So go write! Perseverance always pays off.