Welcome to A Novel Approach. If this is your first issue, I welcome you to check out my back issues for more tips on how to write a novel. It's my fondest hope that I can help other writers do the best they can do.

If you have any specific aspects about novel writing you'd like me to address in future issues, please feel free to contact me and let me know what those are. Thank you for your interest, and cheers to better writing!

Overcoming Procrastination:
How to Break Down Your Goals
Into Steps

I'm as guilty as the rest of you, when it comes to putting off something I enjoy. But, in the past six months, I've managed to break the habit (almost) entirely.

How? By setting weekly writing goals, both for my fiction and for my non-fiction (like this newsletter). By making myself a promise, and keeping it.

If you've read many of the pages on my website, you may have come across the one I wrote about overcoming procrastination . If not, you can click the link to read it now, then come back.

On that page, I suggest you create goals for your novel writing, in order to make it seem more doable. And to make yourself stick to those goals by giving them deadlines.

But if you've never tried to create goals for writing, you might not know where to start, or how to break them down into manageable steps. So, here's an example of my novel writing goals and deadlines to give you an example of how to go about it.

First, when I'm in the rough draft stage, I give myself a word or page limit to reach daily. By daily, I usually consider five days a week "work" days, and allow myself the other two off (not necessarily on the weekend). If things are rolling well, I sometimes don't take those two days off. But I don't recommend you ditch the time off too often, or you'll burn yourself out. Even with something you love.

Once the first draft is done, I use my editing checklist (you can download it free from this link) to create a timeline for editing the entire novel, depending on how many chapters there are. So, below is an example of my timeframe for completing the current novel I'm working on.

When you create your goals and deadlines, they may not look just like this. They may not even look similar. It will depend on the amount of time you have to work on your novel and its editing. This is merely a guide to give you a base for creating your own timeline. Good luck! I hope this helps you with overcoming procrastination.

Rough Draft: Five Months

Daily Writing Goal = 5 pages or more (This may be more than most people have time for. Set a limit that works for you.)

Since my novels tend to run around 400 pages, this equates to approximately 80 "work" days to complete the rough draft. That's about four months. I usually add one more month in case of emergencies getting in the way. I don't always use it, but it's there for padding, if I need it.

Editing: Six to Seven Months

First: Two weeks off. Don't skip this part. You've been buried in that book for five months straight. Take a break and gain some distance before you edit.

Week 1: Reread your novel making notes. This is where, if I don't have a complete timeline for the novel I finish the timeline to be sure I have things in proper order. This is also where I figure out if the plot is complete, needs additions or deletions, and if the overall structure I've used works for the novel.

Week 2: Add or subtract any plot parts or subplots necessary.

Week 3: Rearrange scenes if needed. Make a scene by scene plot outline to keep track of where things now are. Note which chapter each scene falls in, for editing purposes.

Week 4: Week off to gain objectivity again.

Week 5: Another complete read-through to see if major weaknesses are now gone. I double check I'm following the timeline and plot outline I created.

Week 6: Scrutinize opening scenes. Be honest about whether or not your opening scene works. If not, find where your novel really starts and toss the slow beginning.

Week 7: Look at all chapter endings to see if they compel your readers to continue reading. If not, can you rearrange any scenes to make the chapter ends more like cliffhangers? Without screwing up the timeline? If so, do it. If not, see if you can rewrite those chapter ends with a little more at stake.

Week 8: Scrutinize your ending as closely as your beginning. Is it rushed? Prolonged? Fix it.

Week 9: Week off. Let your mind relax and think of other things again.

In this manner, I continue through my editing checklist, taking a full week for any major editing tasks and doing two or three in a week with the easier ones like word usage and sentence length. Because I've usually rewritten a fair number of scenes by now, the later editing tasks go more quickly.

You may find you can work more quickly than I do. I usually take longer editing than I did writing the first draft. I also sometimes get a first draft out in three months, not five. I usually take about six months for a complete edit.

Then I look for a second (and third) opinion on the book. I have access to several intelligent readers who like my sort of fiction. And they're happy to let me know where they're confused or bored.

Once I get their feedback, I do a few more edits. Only then am I near ready to think about publishing.

But that's another issue entirely.

I hope this sample of breaking down your writing tasks helps in overcoming procrastination. I know it works for me. Best of luck sticking to your novel writing until you're done!

If you feel like you can't figure out how to tackle the roadblocks to your success, keep searching and trying. Eventually, you'll find methods that help you be the best writer you can be.

"Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits." ~ Nora Roberts