I have a confession
I’ll confess: I have a writing problem. I’m good at starting articles or pieces of writing but I always struggle to finish them.
The struggle looks different every time:
Sometimes, I can’t finish because I want to keep on researching and studying data until I’m certain that I know enough.
Other times, I am not confident in the angle, delivery or application of syntax in my work.
Many at times, I don’y prioritize my time well enough so I’m simply rush o conclude the article or writing assignment.
Often times, I have absolutely no idea how to conclude the article or story.
If you’ve read my first book - Domestic - you might have noticed that it ends abruptly. Some readers have expressed their frustration about the way the book ends. Others gave me credit for ending the story in a way that is open to interpretation. A few readers believe there may be a sequel.
The truth is there is no sequel and I don’t deserve any sort of credit. I have never said this out loud but I gave that book an annoyingly abrupt ending because I had run out of ideas on how to end it. Plus, I was running against a publishing deadline.
As a writer of psychological thrillers, I’m definitely not alone when it comes to abrupt endings. To prove this: you can read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins or Before the Fall by Noah Hawley and many more psychological thriller books. Abrupt endings are an unspoken running theme in psychological thrillers.
Pulitzer Award-winning journalist, David Fahrenthold, once said about writing, “the thrill is not in the writing, the thrill is in the knowing.”
As a writer, I can relate to that statement because the bulk of the time I spend writing is really spent researching and getting to know more about my subject matter or beat. I have learnt - and I am still learning - to love the research. The research is the process, and the beauty is in the process.
Likewise, the beauty of life - and everything we do - is in the process. It is almost never in the end. We like to say the end justifies the means and that may be true, but the reality is the means determines the end. Instead of focusing on how life - or everything we do - ends, we ought to prioritize, enjoy, maximize, and find value in the process. The process matters.
While I deal with my writing problem, please know: abrupt endings aren’t reserved for fiction. They happen in real life. Many at times, we don’t have much say about how things end but we can decide what happens in...
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