If It’s Tuesday . . .
. . . I should be writing. In fact, I should be writing all those other days too. And even some of the nights.
Why is that? you ask (unsuspecting that I’ve set you up because you haven’t had enough caffeine yet this morning).
That’s because when I get to the end of a book I become a HUGE procrastinator. You see, in my head the whole story is perfect. Everything I’ve set up plays out just like it’s supposed to. The emotion is intense, believable, and so gut-wrenching that the story is a Keeper.
What holds me back is fear. Fear that I’m going to fumble, miss, and instead of providing the emotional read of a lifetime, send the reader down a dark hole without a flashlight.
Is it possible to get past my anxieties and actually finish the book?
I’d have to say yes, probably. After all, I have finished books before and managed to live through the experience (barely). I have to say that it feels an awful lot like jumping off a very high diving board when you’re not the greatest swimmer. Still, I just have to do it and have faith that I can doggie-paddle my way to the side of the pool. I have to climb up that very tall ladder, walk to the end, look down, and–once I’ve chickened out a few times–talk myself back, close my eyes, pretend it’s all going to be okay, and go for it.
How do you manage?
I’m right there with you – I have the hardest time at the end of the book. The only advice I have is hold your nose, close your eyes and jump! Good luck!
Me too. Endings are the very hardest part of the story. No matter what I write, it seems to fall short of the emotional satisfaction I aim for. So I force myself to just do it. One thing that helps is to read a bit of the stuff before the end and then write madly while still feeling the emotions. Words on the page until I’m done and then go back and pretty it up. But that’s just me and it doesn’t always work. Sigh.
Linda
I make myself finish it, regardless of how bad or how lame the ending is, I just make myself write The End. Then I go back and read the whole thing for the first time all the way through and the ending gets rewritten until it’s right.
By the time I get to the end of a book, I usually have another story (or two) niggling at me to get started. If there’s any tendency to procrastinate towards the end, it’s usually because I’m reluctant to say bye-bye to the characters I’ve lived with and loved for so long.