“How do you accomplish all this?”

I get this question a lot, and as a perpetually recovering “imposter,” the first thing I’m tempted to do is laugh and minimize my accomplishments. Only that’s not healthy, and it also lowkey invalidates the person who praised you and wants to learn from you, so let’s not do that. (Like I said, perpetually recovering. :D)

Let’s break this question down to the most basic threads: How do you finish a novel? Most people find it daunting to try and finish one, and I don’t blame them: I’ve done it exactly 10 times now (counting 3 novels I never published), and it’s never become any easier. There are always three major obstacles to conquer:

Finding the TimeFinding the StoryFinding the Motivation

I can offer bits and pieces on all of this, but the first thing I would offer is that you need to know yourself, how you work best, and how you hold yourself accountable.

Gretchen Rubin does amazing work on this, and I’m a big fan of her “Four Tendencies” model. At its core, this model attempts to help you understand how you meet internal and external demands. I like to go over this with my college students because they’re freshly inundated with expectations piling on in every aspect of their lives: school work, and all the aspects of Adulting 101–becoming responsible for the rent and bills, cooking for themselves, making their own health appointments, drinking enough water, managing their social lives, getting enough steps, figuring out what they want to do when they’re NOT in school, and finding like 2 freaking minutes to breathe and find some joy in the middle of it all. Whew.

It helps if you can start by identifying your tendency:

Upholder: You follow the rules and do what’s asked of you, AND you do what you ask of yourself. You meet your deadlines, show up to work, and if you tell yourself you’re going to write 3,000 words this weekend, you are going to treat that as a commitment. Bar any emergencies, you’re going to write 3,000 words.Obliger: You meet external demands, but it’s harder for you to fulfill your own obligations sometimes. For the record, this is my tendency. If I want to write 3,000 words this weekend, and then my friend asks me to hang out, I’ll probably drop everything and bend my timeline to “oblige” my friend’s request. My own thing feels moveable and therefore less important.Questioner: You meet your internal demands, but question what’s asked of you. You want to know why you’re doing this and why it’s important. So if those 3,000 words are important to you, you’ll probably make progress there. If your friend wants to hang out, you’re probably gonna ask what we’re gonna do. XDRebel: You do whatever feels right in the moment–internal and external demands are not a big thing for you. You may tell yourself you’re gonna write 3,000 words this weekend, but if you don’t feel like it in the end, you won’t stress yourself out about it. You won’t stress yourself out about doing your housework, either. Maybe you’ll just do you and watch Netflix this weekend. No judgement either way.

It’s important to remember none of these are right or wrong–they’re more like guideposts to help you figure out how to accomplish goals, set habits, etc.

Knowing I’m an obliger, I work best when I create an external system of accountability. This was really convenient when I was signed with a traditional publisher, who created a calendar for every step of my publishing journey. Your first draft is due on X date. You have two months for round 1 edits. You have two weeks for proofreading. Turn in your cover ideas on X date. I wasn’t about to let them down or blow my chance, so I met every demand and then some. As an indie author, I had to create my own system to replicate this, that way it feels external:

A bullet journal can work wonders here, or an Outlook calendar. After work, I might get a notification that tells me to write 500 words, and it feels wrong to ignore it. After all, it’s a system “commanding” me to follow through! When I’m deep enough into a project that I know I’m not gonna turn back, I start scheduling edits, formatting, and cover art with my partners. For Godfather Death, M.D., my editor received each of the three acts individually with about 3 months in between. Sometimes, I wasn’t even done writing the act when I scheduled with her. But suddenly, I was on a timeline that I paid for, and I couldn’t let her down. Same with the cover art. We scheduled back in February, and I knew I’d want to have everything ready to go for her by November. Given that my artist’s schedule fills up fast and far in advance, and that this is her livelihood, I totally don’t want to miss my window!NaNoWriMo gives you the opportunity to set a goal (or in November, it just GIVES you a goal of 50,000 words), then rewards you for meeting it. I want my daily fire emoji badges, so I want to update my word count every day! This is another external system of accountability.Having a critique partner is great, in whatever way that works for you. I wouldn’t work well having someone ask me every day if I’ve written. But when my betas become emotionally invested in the work, and I become invested in their feedback, I have to finish!

Now if you’re a rebel: just remember your why. That’s a huge key to all of this. Why do you write? Do you dream of seeing your paperback on a bookstore shelf? Do you just need an outlet for your imagination? Do you want to leave something behind for your kids? Is it purely for the joy of it? Do you want to be a millionaire? (I don’t recommend this as a good why, but if it motivates you, dream big and do the work! Godspeed.)

Start there. Write it down. Come back to it when your schedule and motivation feel tight.

You got this.