8 ways

to
FINISH
a book
By Jon Acuff, Finisher
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Is finishing a book difficult?

I think it is, but let’s review the math for a minute.

According to statistics, 81-90% of Americans claim they want to write a book. This is what the New York
Times tells us anyway. I know this to be true because whenever I tell someone I write books they say,
“Ohhh, I’ve always had an idea for a book!” They tell me that or ask me to name the book I’ve written
that they might have heard of, which is the equivalent of saying, “Name your most successful thing and I
will judge if it was successful.”

There are currently 323 million Americans, but only 240 million of them are adults. (Let’s not count the
annoying kid who dies and goes to heaven in this example. Why do those kid always write books? Let’s
focus on grownups for our illustration today.)

Let’s give those adults ten years to write their book. That’s generous. It’s hard to say that you couldn’t
do something in ten years. Even a big goal like getting a college degree is achievable in that amount of
time.

That means, in a 10-year period, there should be 194 – 216 million books published.

How many are actually published in a 10-year period? There are roughly 6-10 million books published
(600,000-1 million per year) every ten years.

That means, we’re missing at the minimum 184 million books.

That’s a staggering statistic. Every year, tens of millions of people avoid doing what they say they want to
do. They don’t finish their book.

Finishing is hard.

It is. Let’s not pretend otherwise. But, it is not impossible.

In this resource, I’m going to share what I’ve learned while finishing six different books. I’ll share the ideas
in list fashion because I’m a big list guy. Some of them are going to be painfully obvious, but you’d be
surprised how many writers don’t do the obvious things they should. Some will be counterintuitive and
might surprise you.

I think you can finish your book. Scratch that, I think you can finish a bunch of books. I think you’ll be
thrilled to see it on a bookshelf or in an online store.

I can’t wait for that moment for you.

In order to get there, try the following:

1 Get a deadline.

I think the most difficult thing about self-publishing is that you don’t have a firm deadline. When I
write a book, I know that there is an entire team counting on me hitting my date. I know the editor
is expecting the manuscript. I know the designer needs the manuscript. I know the marketing
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team needs the manuscript. There’s a big group of people who are holding my feet to the fire. If I
don’t turn it in on time there are very real consequences for me.

But what if you’re self-publishing? What if the only one who even knows you’re writing a book is
you? How do you ever get motivated enough to hit a date?

You need a deadline. This is one of those obvious things, but a lot of authors still refuse to put a
boundary on their writing. I asked a friend when his book was due recently and he said, “A year
ago” but he still wasn’t using a deadline. The problem is that writers think they are writing. They’re
not. They’re writing a book. Writing a book is very different from just writing. When you’re writing,
you can go forever. There is no end date. There is no commitment. You are writing for the joy of
writing, like a runner who doesn’t wear a GPS watch. Can we agree that running and running a
race are different activities with different goals?

I’m not against writing for the sake of writing. Feel free to do that to your heart’s content. Just
do it in your journal. Do it somewhere private. When you’re on deadline though it’s time to stop
casually writing and time to start writing a book.

If you are going to write a book, you need a deadline. I have two words of caution about this. The
first is that I don’t want you to pick something crazy. Don’t say to yourself, “My deadline is next
month. I will be done with my entire book in a month!” That’s not realistic. That’s a fake deadline
and fake deadlines always fail. Pick something you can actually stretch to accomplish. You should
also have mini deadlines, not just one big deadline. One big deadline can be intimidating. A mini
deadline for a chapter or a word count is a lot easier.

The second caution I would give you is that you have to keep the deadline. In my book, “Finish” I
talk about what happens when you break a goal. The problem is that a goal is never just a goal. A
goal is a promise you make to yourself. And if you break that promise enough, you start to doubt
every promise you make. If a friend stood you up for coffee five times, would you trust them the
next time they asked you to grab a cup? Of course not. It might seem silly, coming up with an
arbitrary deadline, but books don’t finish themselves. That’s not how this works. That’s not how
any of this works.

2 Involve a friend.

It’s 100% easier to write a book when you have a friend holding you accountable. I’m not talking
about a cheerleader. I’m not talking about the positive lady you sit near at work who thinks you’re
terrific. I’m talking about a friend who will occasionally send you texts like, “Did you hit your goal
this week?”

I know that deep down, there’s a part of us that likes the lone wolf approach to writing. We
imagine a cabin in the woods of Maine, punching away at an old typewriter like Stephen King.
Months later, we will emerge from the fog, manuscript in hand and drop it on the kitchen table,
complete and perfect. Nope. That’s not how it goes.

When I was writing, “Do Over,” my neighbor Nate kept me in check with the progress. That
summer, we would run together and take walks around the neighborhood to catch up. He’d
talk about his family’s plan to move to Germany and I would talk about my book. He didn’t
micromanage the process, but he did have a pretty clear sense of what I was trying to accomplish.
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Deadlines are heavy things. We’re not designed to carry them alone. We need other people who
will shoulder the weight. That might be your spouse or a friend or a neighbor. The specific person
doesn’t matter much, what matters is that you reach out.

3 Allow it to be imperfect.

Do you know what every book ever finished has in common? It wasn’t perfect. There were
mistakes in it. A billion people reviewed it. Trained editors with expert eyes went over every detail.
The ever obsessed author pored over each word. And you know what? There were mistakes. How
do I know? Because I’ve had mistakes in my books. Here are a few of my favorites:

Start
In this book, I said that NFL player Terrell Owens caught 1,000 touchdowns in his career. He
caught 100. I was off by a factor 10. Every jock who read my book hit me up on Twitter to let me
know I’m an idiot.

Do Over
In this book, I called the sensei of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, “Stick.” His name was actually
“Splinter.” Stick is the name of Daredevil’s mentor. (I didn’t date much in high school.) A recent
TMNT movie ensured that every nerd who read my book hit me up on Twitter to let me know I’m
an idiot.

Finish
In this book, I had a perfect joke about Will Smith. I was talking about where he was from and
said, “West Philadelphia born and raised.” An editor didn’t understand it and took it out. I should
have been clearer in explaining the joke. It didn’t make the final edition. Is that a big deal? Not
really, but it’s still something that is missing from the book.

I share these things because I honestly believe that Amazon has never sold a perfect book. That
entire site is full of imperfect books people were brave enough to finish. So right now, right here,
promise yourself that you’ll never say, “I can’t finish my book until it’s perfect.” It won’t be and
that’s OK.

4 Expect new ideas to show up at the last second.

The greatest way to stir up new ideas is to try to finish a book. I swear, every idea you’ve ever
looked for will emerge from the shadows ready to make nice. Things you struggled to think of
will suddenly be available. As you approach the finish line, a treasure trove of brand spanking new
ideas will pop up.

In this moment, you will be tempted to do what we are all tempted to do, incorporate them!
There’s room. The book is almost done but we can jam them in somewhere, we can find a corner
with a bit of room for another idea. I know we can!

You can’t. Put the new idea down. Step away from the laptop. Take a few deep breaths. Hopefully,
just knowing this is going to happen will encourage you. Sometimes, the hardest thing is thinking
we’re the only one who experiences a situation. In this case, you’re not alone. Every author since
the dawn of time went through this same exact thing.

I know a very successful New York Times Bestseller. If I said her name you would know her, too.
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One year, while writing a book, she found a bunch of new ideas. Instead of moving on, she wrote
a second entire book. When she turned the two books into the publisher, they said, “We only
want one book.” She let a tornado of new ideas drag her that far away from her goal. She lost six
months of writing to a wild batch of new ideas.

When new ideas sneak up on you, and they will, don’t panic. Don’t get distracted by all those sexy
new ideas. Instead, put them to the side, read point 5 and move on with your book. This isn’t the
time to start a new exploration. This is the time to finish the one you’re already on.

5 Write the next book, not the last book.

Not finishing a book is not simply an issue of technique or logic or reason. Life and writing would
be so much easier if they were driven by reason alone. We’d all be cold, unfeeling robots able to
finish as many things as we desired. That is not who we are.

We are emotional and often, it is our emotions that get in the way. Case in point, the “next book
vs. last book” dilemma. Some authors feel like this book, the one they are attempting to finish is
their only shot at publication. They build up this Eminem 8-mile level, you only get one chance,
mentality.

At first, that seems helpful, even motivating. It’s a big deal. Shouldn’t we feel that way about our
books? We should, but there’s a danger hidden there. When you act like the book you are writing
is the last book you get to write, you will never finish. There will always be one more thing you
want to say. One more idea you want to share. One more plot twist or point you want make.

And so you do. You add another idea. And another. And another. Your lean, aggressive, edited
book starts to swell at the seams. You’re no longer sure what the main thread is but you hope that
by overwhelming people with ideas they will feel super served. This is after all, your last book. This
is your one shot.

You see this same approach wreck speeches. Have you ever heard a speech or a sermon where
there were seven main points? There were too many jokes, too many stories, too many ideas and
instead of a meal you ended up being served a terrible buffet of words with no rhyme or reason.
The first speech I ever wrote was exactly that. I had five main points. It was a 30-minute speech
and I thought I needed five main points. Ridiculous.

This is not your last book, this is your next book. The difference might be subtle, but it’s
important. This isn’t your one shot unless you want it to be.

What should you do with all those new ideas you battled in point 4? Put them in your next book.
New ideas are perfect for a next book.

I’ve written six books and not one of them has been my last book. Your next one won’t be either.

6 Small bets.

My wife Jenny doesn’t think I’m going to ride my new bike 1,000 miles in the next 5 months. She
bet me I wouldn’t. Does that mean she doesn’t support me? Of course not. In fact, she’s actually
helping me, because I love small bets.
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When you write a book, there’s not just one finish moment, there are a thousand. I think it’s fun to
celebrate each one. The obvious ones are medium size goals like first draft, second draft, edited
draft, etc. The small ones are things like first 1,000 words or first chapter or spending 30 minutes a
day writing for 10 days in a row.

In addition to tracking those, I think you should celebrate them with small bets. Bet a friend.
Promise him you’ll buy dinner at a fancy place unless you finish your next 10,000 words by a
certain day. Bet yourself if you live in Idaho and don’t have any friends on your 1,000-acre beet
farm.

I decided that if I turned in the first draft of “Finish” by the deadline I would buy myself a pair of
ski boots. I bet myself that I could do it. They weren’t that expensive and that small bet or reward
really helped me stay motivated. Every time I use them, I am reminded of how I got them.

Writing a book is a huge goal, but it’s really made up of small goals along the way. Add some fun
to the mix with some small bets.

7 Don’t write to prevent criticism.

Criticism is not fun.

I know there are people who say that “haters motivate them” but I think that’s dumb. People
attacking your writing doesn’t feel good. It just doesn’t. Nobody likes it.

The problem is that sometimes, we think we can prevent this from happening to us. We think that
with the right words or sentences we can eliminate the harsh light of criticism. We can avoid it
with our perfectly poised prose.

You can’t. I can’t. Hemingway couldn’t. Why does this matter when it comes to finishing? Because
maybe that’s the reason you haven’t hit done yet. It’s one thing to keep your book to yourself, it’s
a whole other thing to share it with the world.

If that’s your worry, allow me to say something magical to you – you don’t have to read reviews.
It’s true. You don’t have to read 1-star reviews on Amazon. You don’t have to scour Good Reads
for mean things people said about your work. You don’t have to Google yourself.

I think we believe that we must be strong. We must sort through the worst missives with a noble
sense of purpose. We must let our harshest feedback make us stronger.

Who says? Where did we get that idea? Why do we think hate is some rite of passage?

One of my favorite authors of all time doesn’t read his Amazon reviews. He’s sold millions of
books and just knows that he wouldn’t be able to handle them. To that, I say “bravo.”

You can’t prevent criticism with how well you write. Stop trying. Finish the book anyway.

And if you’re worried about the feedback, don’t look at it. It really is that simple.
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8 Write your book your way.

Eight point lists are dumb, but I had to get this point in. (You should really go with 7 or 10 in
my opinion.)

Sometimes, it’s hard to finish your book because you’re not writing your book. You’re writing
the book you think a “real author” would write.

It reminds me of the voice parents often put on when they get a phone call. They can go
from yelling at their kid to syrupy sweet “hello!” in three seconds flat. That’s not a big deal
when it comes to a phone call, but it’s crippling when it comes to your book.

If you’re not a big research person, don’t try to jam in a ton of research. If you’re not funny,
don’t try to force humor. If you’re not much for short, punchy sentences, don’t write those.
Why was this resource designed in a list fashion? Because that’s how I naturally think. That’s
how my head is organized. Is your head different? Cool. That’s what makes life fun.

If you’re having the absolute worst time finishing your book, it’s tempting to blame yourself.
If you weren’t so lazy maybe you could finish it. If you just grinded more or hustled it could
be finished. But, what if the problem is that you’re not writing the right book? What if you’re
stuck because it’s the wrong subject or wrong approach or wrong angle?

I think that 90% of the people reading this will be writing the right book for them. That it
awesome. I’m glad you found a subject or plot you can be honest about in your writing. But
for the other 10%, be careful. Don’t be ashamed to quit the wrong book.

I’m working on my seventh book right now. I’m still not exactly sure what it is going to be
about but I’ve got time.

I know this though, I will finish it. And then I’ll finish the one after that and the one after that.

Why?

Because I finish books and you should, too.

It’s a lot of fun.

And it’s the only way to get on a bookshelf, which is quite frankly, where I think your next
book belongs.