By Gretchen Rubin
As a writer, I've learned that one of the most important things I do is to declare a project "finished." This resolution sounds easy, but I find it very, very difficult to do.
In particular, it's hard to say "Finished!" when I'm writing a book, because I love to edit. I tinker, I cut (oh, how I love to cut), I re-organize. I add more facts, more studies, more examples. I think of better choices of verbs. I put a word in, I take it out, I put it back, I take it out again. My work is very, very heavily edited. But at a certain point, I have to be finished.
In fact, I've realized there are actually several mini-finishes before the big finish.
First is "beginning, middle, end." That's when I finish the rough structure of the book. That's big.
Next is "no gaps."... More...
