Finish, then stop

Write the ending

Write it even if the middle is uneven, even if you are not sure it is the right one. A draft with an ending can be revised into a book; a draft without one is a pile of chapters.

Type “The End” if it helps. It does, for most people.

Freeze a copy

Save the complete draft as a file with the date in its name, and do not touch that file again. Whatever you do next, this version exists: proof that you wrote a book-sized draft in a month.

Revision notes, not revisions

While the whole book is still in your head, write notes for later: what works, what does not, the chapters to merge, the questions a reader will ask, the bracketed gaps you left. One document, as messy as you like.

Then stop. Do not start rewriting tomorrow. Revision needs distance; two to four weeks away from the draft lets you read it as a reader rather than as the person who wrote it.

What next

When you come back: read it in one or two sittings, without editing, with the revision notes beside you. Then decide the order of the work. That is a different month.

Done when

The last page is written, a frozen copy is saved, and your revision notes exist. You finished a draft. Most people who start one never do.