The 21st Century Writer

005: Why you need to finish your stuff

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Hannah and Diane discuss finishing your work and why that’s an important skill to develop. And when you have to learn you’re spending too long on a story. How to get over the hard part…and avoid falling into the perfectionism trap.

You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.

NEIL GAIMAN

Some of the things mentioned on the podcast:

  • Why finishing your stuff is important
  • Where your problem with finishing comes from — perfectionism, the artist’s worst friend
  • National Novel Writing Month and how it can help you. Diane and Hannah disagree on how to pronounce its shortened version, NaNoWriMo.
  • Habit tracking. Learn Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity secret! Requires a calendar and a red pen.
  • And more about The Plot Whisperer!
    • Book and media recommendations mentioned
    • Barbara Sher, author of I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was
    • The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin
    • Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker
    • Habit tracking apps, such as HabitKeeper

      • Two things about this podcast:

      1. At the end of today’s podcast, Hannah leads an EFT tapping round on conquering your fear of finishing things. It’s pretty awesome. It starts at 39:30.
      2. There IS a problem with an echo starting at about minute 32 of the podcast — don’t worry, we don’t talk for too much past that point, but it is there.

        3. Next week: Writing intuition: what is it, how to develop it, and when to listen to it. And when not to.
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        The 21st Century WriterBy Diane Patterson and Hannah Steenbock: Authors, Publishers, Entrepreneurs