Fiction Writing Made Easy | Top Creative Writing Podcast for Fiction Writers & Writing Tips

#222. 3 Mindset Shifts Every Writer Needs to Finish Their Novel

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Dec 2, 2025

This episode dives into the mindset traps that keep writers stuck. Discover why your thoughts might be sabotaging your progress rather than your skills. Learn to embrace the concept of progress over perfection to push past those pesky opening chapters. Shift from endless analysis to taking action and gain confidence in your writing. Finally, uncover the value of layering your storytelling to reduce overwhelm. It’s all about making your novel feel manageable and freeing yourself from the pressure of perfection!

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ADVICE

Progress Over Perfection

Give yourself permission to write an imperfect first draft that simply exists.
Prioritize forward movement over polishing so you can see the whole story before revising.

ANECDOTE

Twelve Years To Six Months

Jenny spent 12 years rewriting opening chapters until she embraced messy drafting.
After allowing an imperfect draft, she finished her novel in six months.

ADVICE

Choose Action Over Analysis

Flip the ratio from learning to doing and commit to regular writing sessions.
Choose small, specific weekly writing targets and push aside the urge to research instead.

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Discover the mindset shifts to break out of analysis paralysis, choose progress over perfection, and build your novel layer by layer until it's complete.

Feeling stuck writing your novel? You're not alone. Most writers think they're struggling because they don't have enough time, talent, or discipline. But more often than not, the real issue is actually mindset. In fact, it's the root cause of stuckness: rewriting the same chapters, second-guessing every decision, or trying to fix everything at once.

In this episode, I’m sharing three mindset shifts that'll ease the pressure you're putting on yourself, help you get clarity on your draft, and write forward instead of sideways.

You will hear me talk about things like:

[03:15] Why getting stuck on the first few chapters is more about how you're thinking than how you're writing, and what to pay attention to instead.

[06:45] How preparing, planning, and researching can quietly stall your first draft, and the moment you know it's time to switch into writing mode.

[12:05] The reason drafting feels overwhelming when you try to fix everything at once, and the reframe that makes finishing your story feel doable.

If you've been feeling pressure to get everything right before you can move forward, these shifts will help you see your draft in a much clearer and more manageable way.

Your story doesn’t need perfection to grow; it's allowed to be messy while you figure things out.

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