💡 My Top 5 Hacks for Finishing Your Book (From Someone Who Just Crossed the Finish Line)

My best hacks to get your book done!!!

Okay, so: I’m celebrating!

I just finished Write for Money and Power, my upcoming nonfiction book that helps writers escape the starving artist trap and build something bigger, smarter, and more lucrative.

📕 (BTW if you want to get a free ARC copy of the book in advance of the January 12, 2026 release, you can submit an application here or over on NetGalley! My assistant Michelle and I are approving new ARC readers on a rolling basis.)

And while this book took effort and lots of brainpower, it wasn’t the hardest book I finished this year.

That title belongs to The Ash Trials, my 150,000-word romantasy beast of a novel, which came out this past Valentine’s Day. It’s the first romantasy I’ve ever written, and let me tell you, my brain is still deep in that world, making sure it lives up to the vision in my head.

But here’s the thing: every book is its own Everest.

It doesn’t matter if I’m writing a ghostwritten memoir for a founder or finishing my own writing manifesto. Every single book is a new puzzle. A new psychological game. A new journey through procrastination, imposter syndrome, and that moment where you stare into the blinking cursor and think, “Maybe I should just become a barista in Florence.”

So if you’re somewhere in the messy middle of your book or are staring down the intimidating blank page, here are 5 real, battle-tested, emotionally honest, get-it-done hacks that have helped me finish books — both my own, and my clients’ books.

Let’s go.

1. Trick Yourself Into the Chair (Then Stay for the Afterparty)

Every book gets finished the same way: one writing session at a time. And often, those sessions begin with a lie.

I tell myself: It’s just 30 minutes. Just tweak that one chapter. Just look at the outline again.

But then? Thirty minutes turns into four hours. You slide into flow. The words start fighting back a little less. And suddenly you’re 3,000 words deep and emotionally invested in your protagonist’s moral crisis or your chapter about how to grow a paid newsletter.

Getting started is always harder than staying in it. So trick yourself. Lower the bar. Promise yourself a short visit. Then overstay your welcome like a wildly productive houseguest.

2. You Need a Deadline. Yes, You.

Let me say the quiet part out loud: a book is never “done.”

It’s simply due.

That’s the only way any book gets out into the world — we give it a due date, and we wrestle it into submission until then. Otherwise, it’ll linger forever in your “I just need one more pass” purgatory.

That’s why I set a firm deadline for Write for Money and Power. I gave myself months of runway for marketing and launches, but I still had to draw a line in the sand.

Other times? I’ve done it the fast and chaotic way: set a preorder deadline on Amazon and let that looming date chase me through the final draft. That way, Amazon starts to collect pre-orders and if you don’t upload it two weeks before publishing, they refund all of your readers. 🙃 Would I recommend this method? Depends on your risk tolerance and caffeine intake. But if external pressure helps you perform, it’s incredibly effective.

Don’t wait for the muse. Schedule the due date. Then respect it like a court summons.

3. Step Away. Then Come Back Stronger.

One of the reasons this book was so hard to finish is because I wasn’t writing it consecutively. I had client projects stacked high — ghostwritten memoirs, developmental edits, onboarding new freelancers, growing my newsletter communities and job boards — so the book kept getting slotted into little windows of time.

But weirdly, that spacing helped.

Coming back to the draft with distance gave me new eyes. It let me notice what was bloated and what was missing. It helped me kill the darlings I was too attached to a month ago.

Writing a book is a lot like building Ikea furniture. Step away when the instructions stop making sense. Come back before you throw the whole thing out the window.

4. Build a Brain Trust (And Then Protect Your Energy)

I had 80 beta readers for this book. That’s not a typo. Eighty real, brilliant people who helped me shape the final version. (If that was you — thank you!!!)

Their feedback? Invaluable. Also: exhausting.

Because here’s the truth no one tells you — even helpful feedback can feel like a gut punch. Especially when it confirms things you already know are broken but didn’t want to admit.

So here’s what I recommend: curate your circle. Share with people who understand the vision and who want to help elevate the work, not rewrite it in their image. And when the notes come in? Give yourself time to process. Go on a walk. Curse the margins. Then return to the draft with your editor hat on, not your ego.

Also: thank your people. Books are rarely solo endeavors. Kyle, my partner (and ruthless, wonderful editor), made this book so much stronger. And I didn’t have to sacrifice the soul of the project to make it better.

That’s the kind of editor you want in your corner.

✍️ (P.S. looking to hire a great developmental editor or proofreader? You can always post a job on our writing job board. We have so many amazing editors in our community.)

5. Move Your Body. Clear Your Head. Finish the Damn Book.

Writing is sedentary chaos. Your fingers move, but your soul gets stuck.

So walk. Lift weights. Go outside and stare at trees like they hold the answers (they do). I can’t tell you how many breakthroughs I’ve had mid-walk, where a line that wasn’t working suddenly unlocks because I moved my body instead of grinding harder at the desk.

Stephen King walks. Murakami runs. I lift and walk and stretch and sometimes dance around my apartment like finishing a paragraph deserves a personal parade. Movement isn’t optional. It’s part of the process.

Writing is a mental marathon, and your brain needs oxygen. Don’t forget to breathe.

⭐️ Bonus Tip: Return to Your Why. Again. And Again.

When the draft feels pointless, when you’re knee-deep in edits, when you want to delete the whole thing and start over — you have to remember why you started.

For me, this book was a love letter and a warning. I wrote Write for Money and Power for the writer I used to be. For the ones still stuck in jobs they hate. For the creatives wondering if they’re allowed to want more — more money, more freedom, more ownership.

Your “why” is the compass that keeps you going when the path is covered in fog and self-doubt.

Write for them. Write for you. Just don’t stop showing up.

📚 Finishing Your Book is an Act of Defiance

In a world that wants your attention shattered and your dreams delayed, finishing a book is radical.

So give yourself the structure, the support, the space, the sweat. Lie to yourself if you have to (“just 10 minutes!”). Trick yourself to the chair. Then stay long enough to make something real.

And when you finally cross that finish line?

Celebrate like hell.

Because you didn’t just write a book.

You finished it.

And that, my friend, is everything.

-Amy