My friend, L-, wrote me an email the other day that included no greeting or closing. It only said, “Finish what you started, Jason.” I know exactly what it’s about. Nevertheless, it was ominous.

What L- wrote about was a play that I’ve meant to revise for a few months. L- was prodding me to complete the script so that it could be performed soon. Still, when I received the email, I thought, “Oh no, if I don’t finish everything I’ve started, something bad will happen to me. I may, in fact, die before reaching my goals.” Dramatic? Yes. Warranted? No. There’s no reason to freak out over every goal not met. That’s why we’ve been endowed with the good gift of justification.

There are some steps, though, you can take if you’re really bent on finishing what you started, courtesy of Ali Luke, a writer and writing coach. 

1. Stop starting new projects
2. Access your current projects
3. Choose one project to focus on
4. Decide what “finished” will look like
5. Set some milestones (and start hitting them)

Those appear reasonable and doable. For this play I’m writing, I’m going to focus only on it the next two weeks, concentrating on producing at least two polished pages a day. Then I’ll be ready to send L- the script. Of course, I’ll attached an equally ominous note, something like, “Read carefully what you’ve been given, L-.”

Please read Ali Luke’s blog entry on writetodone.com for in-depth analysis of each step, and please let me know in the comments the best ways you finish what you started.

(Image via Flickr: marcus_jb1973 / Creative Commons)