Finishing school is a good book to help encourage "wanna-be" writers to dust off those manuscripts and get to work finishing them. It is a great addition to how-to books on shelves and would be a great book to give to those who are interested in the writing process. It could be an addition to a school or public library where others could read first hand advice on completing those forgotten ideas stored away.

Book Review Finishing School: The Happy Ending to That Writing Project You Can’t Seem to Get Done by Cary Tennis and Danelle Morton
Review by Dawn Thomas

272 Pages
Publisher: Tarcher Perigee / Penguin Group LLC

Non-Fiction, Writing

I was excited to read this book since I have been procrastinating for as long as I can remember. It seems I go in spurts with my writing. I have several projects started but none of them finished. The book is divided into five parts. The first part addresses the six emotional pitfalls: doubt, shame, yearning, fear judgment, and arrogance. The authors go into detail on how each pitfall affects writing projects. Part two shows readers how it works. Part three tells the reader how to deal with time. Part four gives readers ideas to create their own finishing school.

This is an excellent book for anyone with an unfinished writing project. The authors take turns discussing the topics. They also provide personal experiences in different situations. The book is well laid out beginning with reasons why people stop writing. They describe what finishing school is, how it works, and why we need it.

Cary gives examples of time constraints with writing a column. Danelle told of her daughter’s year of riding-the-rails. It was a difficult time for her and affected her and her writing. There are recommendations for starting your own finishing school and suggestions for finding participants. I was surprised to learn that John Steinbeck had his own version of Finishing School. The book made me feel better about my writing and gave me the push I needed to start writing again.

Finishing School : THE HAPPY ENDING TO THAT WRITING PROJECT YOU CAN’T SEEM TO GET DONE
By CARY TENNIS and DANELLE MORTON is the perfect read for anyone who started a project with Julia Cameron, or gotten down to work with Natalie Goldberg. If you have dreamt of being a writer you not only have to start the work, you need to be faithful to it and FINISH a project.
This is what FINISHING SCHOOL is about.
Written in section, each with a specific purpose, this book both sells the FINISING SCHOOL idea and shares with you what it takes to succeed.
Part one is an introduction to the concept and an invitation to the dance. Written from the perspective of the facilitators as well as participants who were satisfied with the experience.
Part two begins with Danelle's first experience, taking us behind the scenes and into a writer's mind.
I saw myself in Cary's traits, in the third section, as a "Perceiving Type." If struggling with time management sounds odd for a facilitator it proves that these struggles can be harnessed, overcome, and the system works. There is a thorough discussion of goal setting .
Part four explains how you can create your own Finishing school if you can not join en established one.
The book finishes by explaining a writer needs to acknowledge it is time to call a project or writing assignment complete. You have done all you can and SHOULD do and it is time to set new goals, chase a new dream.

While this book is written for writers, its usefulness applies to many other dreams, goals and actions.

A guide to using goal-setting to get your creative projects completed. Too often we end up with good intentions when we begin, but we run out of steam for various reasons.

The book identifies the "six emotional pitfalls" that can stand in the way. They are, Doubt, Shame, Yearning, Fear, Judgement and Arrogance. For instance, doubt that you can finish your project may stop you from getting it done. Or your yearning to become a writer might stand in the way of actually doing the work.

There's a detailed description of the methodology in addition to real-life examples from the authors. They give good examples from their own experiences and dig deeply into each one. Even if you can't identify with all of the pitfalls, there will be something that resonates.

I particularly liked the idea of having a "Declaration of Done," which is a way to make an actual declaration that your project is completed. The last chapter of the book sums it up best, "Finishing School is a method for reaching a state of completion and moving on."

If you are like me, you have various unfinished writing projects in notebooks, tucked away in bottom drawers. You may have even been a part of a writing group, as I was. Yet the works remain unfinished.

Reading Finishing School has inspired me and made me believe there is hope to finish projects I have started. I know I can set aside a realistic number of hours a week and set achievable goals. The next week I can report on what I did or didn't accomplish and set realistic goals for the coming week.

Writers have so many obstacles to finishing. The authors have identified six major ones: doubt, shame, yearning, fear, judgment, and arrogance. They help identify the emotions underlying these blocks. I can recognize them and release them, getting back to work. This book helped me to not believe in those awful things I tell myself. (“I'm a terrible writer.” “I'll never get published.”)

The finishing school idea came out of a class to help writers with unfinished projects. Participants would get together once a week, not to critique their writing, but to focus totally on the commitment to write. The idea was accountability without judgment. The authors, one the teacher and the other a class participant, share here their ideas and experiences revolving around the concept.

We are given practical suggestions for forming our own “Finishing School for Two,” including finding a buddy to help with our accountability. I am encouraged that the concept is that of being committed to writing, not to critiquing the material produced. (The authors do include, however, how to benefit from a critique.)

I really appreciated the section on the six obstacles to finishing. I could identify with several of them and learned how to work through them to get back to writing. I was surprised but encouraged to use whatever is in my head. “This is the great power of being a writer, that anything that comes in our heads, however screwed up or crazy it is, can be used as material.”

I recommend this book to all of those writers out there with unfinished projects. This book gives a realistic framework within which you can make progress. It gives you the resources you need to break through those blocks and set realistic writing goals. You'll also be encouraged by the personal writing experiences the authors share.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Good Advice for Finishing Your Writing Project

There are as many reasons as writers for why a project that starts with enthusiasm dwindles to a pile of paper shoved into the back of a desk drawer, or some other hiding place. The authors have grouped the excuses we use to ourselves into six categories: shame, doubt, arrogance, yearning, fear, and judgement. The authors have been afflicted with these emotional pitfalls and write knowledgeably about what they are and how to over come them.

The core suggestion in this book is having a writing buddy. This is not someone who critiques your work, but rather someone to whom you tell your goals for accomplishing the writing tasks you’ve set for yourself. Having another non-judgmental person with whom you share your accomplishments helps you to keep on track.

Using a writing buddy instead of a critique group has several advantages. Critique groups often have judgmental members who reinforce your negative thoughts, like you have no talent and will never be a published writer. Since there is no competition between you and the writing buddy, at least there shouldn’t be, you can be free to share your aspirations and keep slogging away at your project.

This program has helped numerous people complete writing projects. If you’re having trouble getting back to the novel, play, dissertation, or other project, it’s worthwhile to think of giving this a try.

I received this book from Penguin Group for this review.