did anybody else see the announcement that there's going to be a season two of stranger things freaking out I'm so excited yes to my channel today I want to talk about something very near and dear to my heart and that is finishing writing your book we all know that writing a book is hard having written three of them myself I can tell you that it's not an easy journey it's one filled with trial and error self-doubt and criticism yet it's also filled with aha moments and a great sense of accomplishment nowadays it's not enough to start writing a book when you think about it pretty much everyone starts writing a book but very few actually finish writing a book I'm currently going through a non finishing phase for the third book in the Alpha Drive series I know I know don't hate me I know exactly how I want it to end I have it all plotted out and ready to be written but for some reason I keep putting it off I honestly think it's because I've grown so close to these characters over the past four years that I just really don't want this series to end I don't want to say goodbye to these characters just yet and I know that if I write the ending to the final installment then it really will be over I won't write about those characters ever again and that is truly terrifying and sad so obviously that's one reason not to finish writing your book but there are a number of other reasons we as writers don't finish writing our books maybe we lose interest in the story maybe we took a writing break that was a little too long and the thought of reading through what we've already written to refresh our memories is overly daunting or maybe we honestly have no idea how we want our story to end so what can we do to ensure that when we set out to write a book we finish what we start try following these four foolproof steps to ensure your book is another half written story thrown into your ever-growing slot pile number one a plan I'm sure all the Panzers are running for the hills right about now a plan who needs a plan plans are for the birds I will tell you right now that plans are not for the birds and that having one will actually help you write a better book faster I'm not talking about having some crazy detailed schematic for every single scene in your book I'm talking about a basic plan that will help you keep your head on straight when your ideas have you spinning in eighteen different directions so what should be in this plan you should have these seven things number one a premise or log line you need to write down the main idea of your book just a couple of sentences keep it short and sweet number two a synopsis write 500 to 600 words that tells your story from beginning to end hint this helps because then you have to write down the ending of your book number three the differentiator write one paragraph stating what is unique about your book number four target audience who will be attracted to your book try to describe them as a single person so that you can get a better idea of who you're writing for number five competition write down the titles of three books that are comparable to the one you're writing number six marketing tactics what will you do to market your book will you hire a marketing expert will you use social media will you run ads and giveaways when how often knowing how you're going to market your book is just as important as writing it number seven and outline this can be as detailed or as brief as you want but at the bare minimum she'd give an idea as to your beginning middle and end so those seven pieces all fit into having a plan so now we're going to move on to the second foolproof step which is to create consequences and write them down to avoid procrastination it can be helpful to create your own painful consequences or when you miss deadlines if you have weekly deadlines then make consequences for yourself if you miss them I actually found some interesting consequences online that I would like to share with you for example if you miss your first deadline you have to delete your favorite app game or social media site from your phone and not reinstall or access it until you finish writing the book if you miss your second deadline then you have to give your phone to your spouse or lock it up somewhere and buy three pints of Blue Bell ice cream for the people who work with you in your office if you miss your third deadline then you have to send a $500 check to the presidential candidate that you most despise okay so some of these are pretty severe especially that last one but I think you can kind of see the point of this exercise if you create consequences for missing your deadlines and those consequences are things that you really don't want to do or don't want to live without you'll be surprised at how focused and productive you'll become you have to actually stick to your guns on these consequences though and enforce them otherwise it's not going to work personally for me creating consequences doesn't exactly work I'm more of someone who likes to focus on positive things so when I hit my deadline I actually reward myself with something whether it's a very small shopping spree or taking myself out to a spa or a massage or a facial or something like that so actually go with a positive reinforcement and treat myself when I hit my deadlines and it makes me look forward to actually writing and accomplishing my goals because then I get to go pamper myself and treat myself afterward so that's another route you can go but I do know some people work best with consequences when they have to have things taken away from them I just work a little bit differently number three accountability have people to hold you accountable to your writing goals whether it's your significant other a friend who supports your writing journey a family member or a writing buddy it's good to surround yourself with people who might be struggling with the same types of things that you are the writing community is a great place to connect and not feel so alone during the writing process these people will support you and by spending time with other writers and listening to their ideas and learning from their mistakes you'll only become a better writer these people can hold you accountable and help motivate you to hit your word count goal or even better surpass it number four set your intentions each and every single I am very much a visual person so match me where win and how much I will write every day actually helps me to get it done during the week when I'm at work I usually imagine myself at these Starbucks across the street from my office with my laptop and a venti chai tea latte during my lunch hour notebooks turn open with ten different colored pens listening to Odesa through my headphones just typing away during the weekends I usually imagine this same scenario just at Barnes Noble or in my home office creating that visual image of yourself writing can actually be very motivating studies show that if you set an intention and imagine your environment and time of day you are much more likely to follow through with your goal an example of something you can envision is each morning before work I will write 750 words of my manuscript at my favorite coffee shop so let's try this out with a little assignment what Kristen you're giving us homework why yes I am when writing a book it can be tempting to just Skype in with little to no thought and start writing and sometimes this is necessary just to get started however you will likely save yourself time and create a better story if you settle on a solid premise before you start writing your premise acts as the foundation of your book for fiction your premise is also called a logline which is a one sentence summary of the protagonist main conflict and setting so grab a piece of paper and use this formula to create your logline the character plus their goal plus the conflict that character will go through plus the result that comes from overcoming the conflict once you have your logline written down I want you to take another piece of paper and write one two three sentences describing how your book is going to end and if you're not exactly sure yet then just write down any idea that comes to you four ways your book can end you know how the main idea of your book as well as the ending to your book so now all that's left is really writing the beginning and filling in all the parts in the middle trust me once you know the ending to your story it makes it much easier to fill in all the rest of the blanks think about it this way if you don't know the ending then you don't know what it is you're writing up to so there you have it four foolproof steps to ensure that you finish writing that dang book you can do it I believe in you that's all that I have for you guys today if you enjoyed the content please thumbs up and subscribe to my channel my debut novel the alpha drive is available for purchase on Amazon Barnes & Noble the Book Depository and books-a-million the sequel the order of Omega is available for pre-order right now on Amazon and it will be released on Tuesday November 8 2016 all the links are listed below I am quickly approaching 2000 subscribers on my youtube channel which seriously again thank you guys that is amazing and I will be doing another giveaway where three lucky winners can choose from the following three prizes one a signed copy of the alpha drive to a first chapter 40 and three a 15 dollar Amazon gift card I may even throw in an arc of the order of Omega so if you haven't subscribed to my channel make sure you do for a chance to win some awesome prizes and speaking of subscriber winners let's draw the August winner shake this up like these one we do the August winner of the month is Cassie thorn all thorn thorn I'll I'll put it right here for you guys congratulations you are the August subscriber winner of the month please feel free to email me at author kristin martin at gmail.com to claim your prize before I sign off I have a couple more announcements Goodreads will be hosting and giveaway for one side copy of the alpha drive from today Tuesday September 6 to Tuesday September 13th I will leave the link down below so that you can enter to win also from Thursday September 8th to Monday September 12 you can get the eBook version of the alpha drive on the Kindle Store for only 99 cents you do not need a physical Kindle to participate in this price promotion all you need to do is download the Kindle app on the Google Play Store or the App Store and then just sign in with your Amazon credentials I've ensured this time that this price promotion will be valid for the United States as well as the United Kingdom so mark your calendars for September 8th through September 12th don't forget to subscribe to my channel twin bookish videos every month I post new videos on Tuesdays I will see you guys next time bye I can't wear my glasses because there are two glowing rings where my eyes should be I thought I put this on silent sound floating there we are a train conductor