When we start a new manuscript, we are so excited. We are eager to get started and to keep writing the manuscript. The topic is engaging, and we are doing a lot of researching. Our views are cohering with the views that our in the literature, and we feel we are on an exciting path everything we sit down to write. But at some point, something happens. Sometimes it’s just life. We get ill with the flu, or we hear about a health issue that we were trying to avoid and now are in the midst of. This news derails us and suddenly, we are off course. Someone or something has officially derailed our project. So, we file away the project for now. Out of sight, out of mind. For some of us, it’s around the middle of the manuscript. For others, it’s a quarter of the way in. Suddenly, we feel like it’s a chore to get to work and continue working on our manuscripts and to complete our weekly goals. So, how can we continue momentum in our writing? Here are a few things to try:

• Try to do one small thing every day on the manuscript, even if you can’t work on it full time. In other words, don’t file it away in a file drawer never to be seen.

• Remember, any action, regardless of how small, is better than no action at all. Therefore, keep plugging away at completing your manuscript. Every day as you take an action, regardless of now tiny, you will be moving forward. This will give you the confidence that you need to carry onwards.

• Keep in mind that doing just one thing a day towards completing your manuscript is all you need to commit to get a lot done within a year. You can really complete a lot of your manuscript just by chipping away at what you must do to complete it. Many of us feel that if we don’t work in a particular manuscript for five hours a day, then we won’t be making progress. However, nothing is further from the truth. Taking small, consistent steps is the way to go.

By taking these steps, you will be successful at completing a manuscript, even one that has derailed for whatever reason. Therefore, don’t give up on any of your manuscripts and put them away in a file drawer. Leave it in an open file on your desk, and plan to work on each day, even if it is for fifteen minutes. Try it!