"A TarcherPerigree book."

Introduction: Why we don't finish the projects we love -- Part 1: The six emotional pitfalls -- How we choose the six emotional pitfalls -- Doubt: "I think I can't". Doubt masquerading as self-knowledge: "I'm a terrible writer" ; Doubt clothed in cynicism: "All my ideas are clichés, but clichés sell" ; Doubt parading as pessimism: "I'll never get published" -- Shame: "I am ashamed of not finishing and too ashamed to finish". Are you lying to yourself? ; "Everyone knows I'm a failure": the monologue that stops you cold ; "I'm letting the world down by not being a total genius": the problem with early potential -- Yearning: "Does my dream of being a writer get in the way of my writing?". The yearning for perfection: "I must write the perfect first sentence of else!" ; The trap of symbolic victories: resisting the clarion call of the office supply store ; The yearning for acclaim: the sore loser award -- Fear: "What am I actually afraid of?". "Who the hell am I to think I can write?" ; "I'll never know enough, so why even start?" ; The bear and the magpie -- Judgment: "Whose judgment do I fear, and how can I proceed in spite of it?". The special problem of telling the truth about your family ; The Winchester mystery novel: denying mortality by endlessly revising ; "It's all been said before, so why bother?" -- Arrogance: "How does arrogance blind me to what must be done?". "Actually, it's a trilogy" ; "I'm willing to be judged, but only if I'm judged the victor" ; "I don't need help; I'd rather fail in secret" ; The surprising upside of healthy arrogance: as revealed by a teenage wrestler -- Part 2: How it works -- Danelle's two months in finishing school -- The problem with writers' groups and how finishing school is different -- What can you accomplish in one month? -- The four phases of creativity -- On not reading each other's work -- Part 3: Dealing with time itself -- Time and its tricks -- Picking up the rock of the paragraph -- My fake schedule -- Setting achievable goals and meeting them -- Writing day by day -- Part 4: How to create your own finishing school -- The crisis that created finishing school -- Finishing school for two -- How to set up a full-scale finishing school of your own -- Tips for a leader: how to listen -- Part 5: Finishing -- John Steinbeck's five months in finishing school -- The completion high: what finishing feels like -- Finishing well, no matter how it ends -- The detailed scenario of doneness -- Conclusion: The declaration of done.