without being stuck, constantly distracted, or having to leave your family and run away to a small cabin in Maine.
So we can skip that tidbit of “useful” advice.
After all, you probably already know…
The Internet is chock-a-block with #writingtips for your #writinglife.
Pollsters report more than 80 percent of people would like to be an author.
Google estimates 130 million books have been published over the course of human history.
Add in increasing self-publishing opportunities, and you know that it’s easier than ever to get a book published ONCE it’s finished.
Even if you’ve already completed smaller pieces and maybe even been published in a literary mag or in an online journal (lucky you!), or had friends who’ve read your stories shower you with sincere compliments, finally finishing your first full book offers you a new and exciting experience as a writer.
You’re able to live up to the promise you made to yourself when you were just a little kid who couldn’t get enough of a good book, and you know that you are living out your life’s purpose as an author. The experience you gain finishing your first book(s) gives you the confidence to mold your writing practice to be exactly what you need it to be.
You’ve bought a new notebook (plus a spare!) and stocked up on a set of those easy-glide pens.
If you’re super committed, you’ve even said you’d get up early and write every day before the kids woke up and your house went into overdrive, or you had to leave for work.
But even with the best intentions, most writers end up abandoning their half-written manuscripts in a drawer or box in the closet, while watching others push through to the finish line, find agents, publish and be celebrated for their brilliant work.
Here’s why most writers abandon their half-finished books:
Without the right tools and loving accountability, most writers get completely lost.
They let self-doubt creep in and they tell themselves that they’ll write again next week. But then life gets in the way and next week never comes.
They feel all alone with demands of their book… overwhelmed at the enormity of their specific project and get super-anxious when they lack clarity over exactly what they need to do next to finish their manuscripts. Fear stops them in their tracks.
And here’s why this can be irreversibly crippling:
As someone who feels called to write you can’t afford to abandon your writing dreams.
The moment you feel lost and wandering all alone in the dark fighting your book (the same book you once loved like your own child) it’s almost impossible to recover.
Finishing a complete first draft of your book is one of those things you just need to complete once you’ve started, so that your unconscious mind (or Muse) trusts you again when you make promises to yourself about your creative life.
In all likelihood, a lot of your writer friends have also failed in their attempts to finish their first book, or they’ve just given up and stuck the pages into the back of a drawer.
But look...
Even if you’ve set your manuscript aside and haven’t looked at it a while, it’s not too late to finish your draft and feel excited about the writing process again. You CAN get your book out in the world and finally add “Author” to your list of accomplishments and your bio.
And this is definitely possible as long as you can avoid these deadly first book completion mistakes other writers are making.
Some writers think that they can sit down at their desk for hours at a time and the most precise and perfect words will just flow from their pens and never need to be edited or revised. (Drafting at a laptop can sometimes make this worse, by the way.)
But if you understand what I refer to as “The 6 Phases of a Book” then you can see clearly where you are in the process and this releases sooo much pressure. And there’s a way to plan with Real Life in mind, with practical tools to help you gain real momentum on your draft.
If you’ve ever grasped for the right words or the next scene -- congratulations on being a normal writer! There’s inherent uncertainty in the creative process that breeds anxiety in all artists. All we can do is pay attention to how this manifests for us personally -- our own peculiar quirks -- and come up with plans to manage it. That’s the task, and no creative person really gets to avoid it. But taking this as a personal failing will absolutely cripple you.
Fortunately, we now have brain science and the science of creativity (yep, there are real scientists studying this stuff, bless them!) to show us how we can effectively respond when caught up in our writer’s fears and struggles.
In our personal lives we treat important goals like projects all the time -- losing weight, running a half-marathon, raising funds for the kids’ school -- and we’re totally familiar with that approach from our professional lives. But somehow with creative work writers get the idea that everything should be left loosey-goosey. (And a loose goose is the worst!) So writers sometimes get overwhelmed at the enormity of the book as a project and how it all fits together.
It’s important to break the work down and track your progress in order to gain a sense of unstoppable momentum in your work. Book completion is no different from any other project in many respects and you can learn to treat it that way, and avoid using your many other commitments as crutches when you’re afraid. Time to respect your book for what it is -- a PROJECT -- and treat it accordingly.
Constant disruptions in concentration are super-annoying, but they’re also 100% guaranteed to happen unless we intentionally engineer our environments to ensure they don’t. And you have to know how to get back on track when you’re knocked off. When you lose your vital connection to your work-in-progress you can lose the thread of what you meant to write next. Sometimes this is because your partner’s work or family needs drive everything in your life -- you have to actively plan for and negotiate this, or you could wake up one day to find you’ve let yourself, and your book, come last once again.
When the writing gets hard, some writers run to the next shiny object so they can have the feeling of a fresh start. Which of course never lasts, and creative work cries out to be finished. Some writers don’t even know what they’re really capable of artistically because they’ve never really committed: if they haven’t finished anything yet, they can’t fail. (Sorry, too close?) When doubts creep in -- as they will! -- they feel bombarded by voices saying horrible, mean things like “What’s the point? Who’s going to read it anyway?” And then they let those voices overrule their life’s work and purpose.
Loving accountability is the only sustainable way around this -- you have to own this for yourself and actively seek out inspiration, practical support and accountability from people who really believe in you and care that you finish your book.
Most writers get concerned about creating the perfect narrative arc, or getting the setting concrete enough, or ensuring movement in their character development.
And of course all of these things matter, but they’re not where we get stuck.
Writers get stuck when they don’t acknowledge that 80% of completing a book is in our mental effort to manage ourselves.
In my own experience as a writer and as a writing mentor, writers know that the only thing really in our way is ourselves and our own patterns.
Coming to terms with that reality and then identifying the personal solutions we need is what actually makes it possible for us to engage with the more technical aspects of writing -- setting, character development, narrative arc, backstory -- so that we can finish our first drafts.
Getting the backstory right only matters if you can settle yourself into finishing the REST of the story too.
And literally MILLIONS of writers have gone before you and solved most if not all of the technical craft issues you’ll face in your manuscript so you have a world of knowledge to draw from a craft perspective.
"Rhonda is generous, warm, and extremely supportive to writers at all levels, and she brought all of these skills to our workshop. Her approach to helping us get back on track (or get on track in the first place) with our writing projects was enlightening. Introducing us to a system based on brain science (really!), Rhonda provided a whole variety of techniques and resources. I highly recommend Rhonda as a mentor, instructor and/or editor."
"Rhonda's perspective, tools, and insights helped me organize my time and priorities to achieve my creative goals. Her support has been invaluable for me in regaining a sense of my artistic self and establishing a sense of balance and proportion so my writing, and the rest of my life, can flourish."
Introducing
I’ve taken everything I’ve learned from my MFA in Creative Writing, and (more importantly!) my years of actually finishing and publishing books as a working single mother, as well as the time I’ve spent mentoring other writers, and channeled it all into a 12 week book completion program.
This is the program that not only teaches you the mental and technical tools you’ll need to finish your book, but also provides the coaching and loving accountability you’ll need to help you get there.
First Book Finish isn’t so much an online course as it is a course-supported 12-week small-group coaching programme.
Yes, you’ll learn the technical aspects of writing a book (structure and story elements) but you’ll also fundamentally re-shape your thinking about your writing in ways that will ensure you can keep the momentum going in your writing life all the way to completing your current book AND all the ones that follow.
The end result: a finished first draft of your book, plus the detailed plan on how you’ll revise and publish it -- and the long-lasting increased confidence that comes from mastering your writing mind.
FIRST BOOK FINISH is the ONLY program of its kind that…
So if you’re ready to finally finish your book while avoiding writers’ resistance,
Module Highlights:
We’ll do a deep dive together into the true nature of drafts (how rough is rough, exactly?) and uncover how to handle research and any shiny new ideas that bubble up.
Module Highlights:
This module draws on the work of social scientists studying creativity and exciting new developments in brain science that all writers can use to:
Module Highlights:
This module is all about the nitty-gritty technical aspects of craft you’ll need to finish your book.
All the classic structural guidance for narrative, plus a few new contemporary approaches so that you can find the best structural “container” for telling your particular story.
How to create believable characters who develop naturally and easily.
Module Highlights:
At this point in the programme, you’ll be sooo close to finished, my friend!
Here’s where we get into:
This is a serious group of writers committed to finishing the first draft of their books and gaining the mental and technical tools that will serve them now and for every book to come.
This is not a casual hang-out group swapping writing memes but a highly-focused group of experienced writers where you’ll find loving support for every hang-up you have in the book creation process.
Leverage the power of this group to:
This Ultimate Guide is hot off the presses for 2019!
It will provide all the details you need to understand how book publishing is working right now, with the latest info on navigating the publishing world including finding an agent, identifying and working with literary presses, preparing your manuscript for submission, pitching your book to publishers and how to know if self-publishing might be the right path for you.
Highlights:
At the end of our 12 week program I’ll be offering a live masterclass with writers who’ve already completed their books and selected self-publishing as their option for reaching their ideals readers.
They’ll help you decide if self-publishing is the right path for you, how to go about finding your best self-publishing options AND the tips and tricks for success that they wish they’d known before self-publishing. This class will be Live so you can ask your own personal questions, and recorded so you can come back to it later as an inspirational video how-to guide.
(And I’ll also have a few fun surprises I’ll be throwing in as we go along, but shhh that’s just between us for now.)
Look, let me say this upfront:
First Book Finish is the most comprehensive programme for writers who are excited and COMMITTED to finishing a complete first draft of their very first book. And I am excited to offer you all the practical tools and loving accountability you need over the next 12 weeks.
Now there’s the kicker on the First Book Finish Guarantee:
By the end of these 30 days, you’ll have received access to the Getting Started Section of the course and Module 1 on Finding Focus.
Meaning, you’ll have had the opportunity to clarify the essential premise of your book and planned out your First Book Finish Roadmap to give you the path you’ll follow to track your progress all the way to completion BEFORE making a final commitment.
If you don’t feel totally confident and motivated by your personal First Book Finish RoadMap AND all of the coaching support and loving accountability you’re receiving, simply reach out, show me you’ve put in the work in Module 1 and I’ll refund 100% of your investment. (Full Details on Terms and Conditions Right Here.)
Lifetime access to First Book Finish - $997 Value
4 Modules, 28 Lessons, plus PDF guides and worksheets
Options for how you learn best with video, audio and written transcripts
All the tools you need to successfully complete the first full draft of your book!
PLUS
12 Weeks Small Group Coaching - $1797
Loving accountability, practical guidance and accessible live coaching to encourage, support and inspire you as you gain momentum and track your progress all the way to finally typing THE END on the last page of your manuscript.
AS WELL AS THESE TIME-LIMITED BONUSES
Total Value: $3785
When you add it all up, that’s a total value of $3785
6 Monthly Payments of
1 Payment of
Questions Other Writers Have Asked About the First Book Finish Course
There’s no specific minimum number of pages to qualify, but it will definitely help you really finish in the 12 week course period if you’ve already got a good start on your manuscript. It’s okay if your pages are still handwritten notes -- that’s why we call it a draft! As a rough guess, if you had about 25% of what you estimate the final number of pages in your book to eventually be, then you’d be in good shape to finish in 12 weeks. (We get into the math of this in Module 1, along with the First Book Finish Roadmap for your particular book.) Let me ask you this though: what's if the worst that could happen is that you'd have a few hundred more pages than when you'd started?
Here's a little known fact from someone who's published multiple times: every book is different, and every writer starts over with the next one. If you review the Modules and think that some loving accountability would help you get your current book finished, then WELCOME! I'd love to have you join us.
I hear you, Sister! It’s totally 100% normal to get stuck at a specific spot in your manuscript and then not be able to get over it. This is why I’ve designed the program the way I have -- with a deep dive on the proven, science-backed mindset tools upfront first, so that we can eliminate them once and for all. And not just for this book either; these are tools you can come back to any time you’re feeling stuck in your writing life for years to come. If you do the work and are willing to look at your own patterns, I know you’ll get results.
I don’t believe in the lie that “real writers” write every day. It just hasn’t been my experience and I’ve got the published books and a few literary awards to support my fairly strong opinion on this. (So: snap!)
However, with that said of course you’ll need to be writing regularly in order to finish your book over the 12 weeks. That’s why right at the start in Module 1, I will walk you through the First Book Finish Roadmap to help you break down your personal writing project, and we make a plan for how you’re going to find the time you need that is entirely based on your specific Real Life circumstances. Can you find time to write 1-3 times a week? That’s totally doable and inside First Book Finish, I show you how to make it happen.
Yes, of course you can. But let’s be honest -- will you, though? (Sorry, but I’ve been at this a long time and I know how hard it is to keep ourselves motivated to stick with our writing routines, never mind motivating others as well.)
And I’ve designed this program to incorporate the latest in social science and brain research to help you understand what stands between you and the completion of your book, so that you can benefit from a set of practical and proven science-backed tools, as well as have the loving accountability of a coach and a group of fellow writers as you write to finish. I know there’s no other program like it available.
When you enrol in the program, you get immediate access to the Getting Started section of the course, and then when the whole group is ready to go we get into Module 1. We do the Modules together as they are released, so that everyone is on the same page. (And I know first-hand how easy it is to skip over things and then regret it later when we get stuck.)
All materials can be both streamed and downloaded as they are released, and you have lifetime access to the course so anytime I make updates you get the new versions of everything too.
Bonuses are available at the end of the course, because they focus on the next steps after finishing the first draft of your book and I don’t want people to get distracted by other shiny things instead of keeping their attention where it’s needed.
The coaching component of the course is over the 12 week course period. The weekly Live sessions will happen Sunday mornings at 10am Eastern. But you don’t have to worry about missing any, because you can submit questions in advance and then the sessions are recorded so you’ll be able to stream and/or download them (or even re-watch them again!) as you need them.
Absolutely, I've got your back! If you're not happy with the program, the First Book Finish 30-Day Guarantee has your back. If you enrol today, you can access the Getting Started section of the course and then dive into Module 1: Finding Focus with your fellow writers as soon as it’s released in Week One. After 30 days, if you have done the work in Module 1 and aren’t motivated by your personal First Book Finish Roadmap and the loving accountability the program offers, then show me you did the work in Module 1 and I’ll give you all of your money back. You can find the full details on the First Book Finish 30-Day Guarantee in the full Terms and Conditions details right here.
Yes! For writers working on a collection -- of poems, stories or essays -- I have some special resources to help prompt you with new ideas for finishing individual pieces, as well as a guide to help you curate your collection once the individual pieces are finished, so that everything comes together as a compelling whole.
The program will work for anyone needing mindset and technical craft support as they’re working to finish a full first draft of their book.
That said, it isn’t ideal for playwrights, screenwriters, or for people writing business or self-help non-fiction -- these aren’t genre I’ve published in myself and I want to hold myself in integrity for only offering support where I know I can help you get results.
Well hello there, new Internet friend! I totally get this question. So, this is me:
I’m Rhonda Douglas, a published and award-winning poet and fiction writer. I have both an English Literature degree and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and have been a writing mentor for years offering live workshops, one-on-one editorial support and creativity coaching.
My writing has been published in literary journals in Canada and overseas, and I’ve been lucky enough to win a few awards for my work over the years. My published books are in poetry and short fiction, I’m currently finishing up my second poetry manuscript, and have a novel-in-progress as well as a mixed-genre memoir. I’ve served on juries for literary prizes and grants, and I was the Poetry Editor for Arc Poetry, Canada’s National Poetry Magazine. Publishers Weekly said my short stories “bubble with originality and daring,” among other lovely things.
I have a day-job in international development where I’ve been delivering workshops for over 2 decades now. I was a single mother for quite a few years while I also finished my graduate studies while holding a day-job in non-profit management AND finishing and publishing my two books. So I know what busy looks like (!) and how to fit the writing in to maintain my writing life. My own experiences with writer’s resistance many years ago led me to study the social science on creativity and to explore creativity coaching.
I’m a master at finishing things and reaching my goals. Supporting other writers brings me pure joy. Originally from rural Newfoundland, but I now live in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. I’m a coffee addict and cupcake-motivated. I overuse semi-colons, em-dashes and ellipses just because I can. My daughter Emma is now 25, living nearby in Montreal and she’s my soul’s delight.
I’d be honoured and so pleased to work with you over the next 12 weeks in my First Book Finish program.
Lifetime access to First Book Finish Online Course - $997 Value
4 Modules, 28 Lessons, plus PDF guides and worksheets
Options for how you learn best with video, audio and written transcripts
All the tools you need to successfully complete the first full draft of your book!
PLUS
12 Weeks Small Group Coaching - $1797
Loving accountability, practical guidance and accessible live coaching to encourage, support and inspire you as you gain momentum and track your progress all the way to finally typing THE END on the last page of your manuscript.
AS WELL AS THESE TIME-LIMITED BONUSES
Total Value: $3785
When you add it all up, that’s a total value of $3785
6 Monthly Payments of
1 Payment of
Lifetime access to First Book Finish Online Course - $997 Value
4 Modules, 28 Lessons, plus PDF guides and worksheets
Options for how you learn best with video, audio and written transcripts
All the tools you need to successfully complete the first full draft of your book!
PLUS
12 Weeks Small Group Coaching - $1797
Loving accountability, practical guidance and accessible live coaching to encourage, support and inspire you as you gain momentum and track your progress all the way to finally typing THE END on the last page of your manuscript.
AS WELL AS THESE TIME-LIMITED BONUSES
Total Value: $3785
When you add it all up, that’s a total value of $3785
6 Monthly Payments of
1 Payment of
50% Complete
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