The trap we fall into when finishing a project

I’m almost there, I’m at the finishing line – let’s say I have one more mile to go in a marathon…I can taste it – the end is in sight. Then I made it, it’s done…now what? The trap we fall into when finishing a project…

It’s taken me about 6 months to finish a novel. Every morning (or almost every morning) I’ve woke early to get down words for my novel…and now over that time I’m hitting 65,000 words, which is a novel! Or at least the length of novel I write. I am in my last two chapters, about to write that final scene at the end of the book, BUT I’m already feeling deflated – what will I do when it’s over…just write another story?

I am guilty of doing the thing, then finishing the thing, then onto the next thing. My husband and I said that when I wrote my first book, we would celebrate.

We didn’t.

Then, when my second book was done, we said “this time we WILL celebrate!”

We didn’t.

Now this latest book is my fifth novel to date, and I fear I may do the same thing. Just forgetting all the emotion put into it, the planning…all that work will get flicked away.

The most that will happen is I’ll give myself a little encouraging ‘you did it, yay well done!” and then plan my next novel.

The reoccurring theme behind a project

Since writing a few books, I see patterns I go through. At the start I am raring to go, excited, bouncing to get started. The words come, and I have a good idea what I want. The story takes shape and goes in the direction I want.

Then I hit the middle.

It’s no wonder they call it the ‘messy middle’. Usually this is the spot I feel stuck. I don’t know if the story makes sense. And by the end, I kind of want to get it done – filled mostly with self doubt, convinced that everything I’ve written to date, including my new addition is a big pile of steaming turd that no one in their right mind will want to read!

So here I am again, just at the end… almost! And I feel myself wanting it to be done, to get onto the next stage already.

But I need to reign in that self doubt and learn from experience that this is not what I should give any time to. I need to accept that writing will not be smooth, but that’s the point of writing – things come to the surface you might not have expected. It’s about being flexible and finding joy behind writing, no matter where it leads.

What I need to do is prioritise celebrating my wins. I wrote a book! (or should I say, ALMOST wrote a book!). That kind of thing needs to be recorded, acknowledged, celebrated. If I don’t celebrate my own wins…no one will. Life is about enjoying, so why not enjoy the satisfaction that I did something and saw it till the end?

Do you relate?