Well, the title is as it reads. My girlfriend won’t accept my proposal until I finish. And it’s underway. She has this huge attachment to one of my stories I put down for a while and she decided to make an ultimatum. The thing is this is going to be a meaty book and I want to propose by at least next October (2025) on our anniversary, which is Halloween. I also work two jobs on top of this. And she wants it edited! This whole thing will probably amount to about 150,000 words or 25 chapters. How will I ever get this done in time? I’m sobbing on the inside.
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Cutting back Internet usage. 
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But I already deleted TikTok ! I gotta delete YouTube and my phone games too? 
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Set a word target for the book of how many more words to hit 150000 target and set this for at least 4 months in advance to allow 1 month rest for story and 3 months to edit. Now will know writing target per day.
I find dictation (I use dragon) makes it easier to write more if have a scene outline in shorter period of time and feel less exhausting then typing it all.
Good Luck.
Luckily was married 39 years before starting to write and retired, so no ultimatum. Have produced (written/edited, BUT not published a 360,000 word trilogy and working on 84000 word horror story and will start edit in 1 week. So you can do especially with her incentives)
She obviously thinks you can do it. Ask her for suggestions IF you are ready to take them. She may have some insights into ways to improve your work habits that you do not.
I suggest that you negotiate with the prospective Mrs Beartoons Studio.
Writing and editing a large book is a significant amount of “pre-signature” effort on your part. If you’re to agree to this, you are going to need some comparable interim milestone deliverables from her (as we say in the biz).
In particular, you want to see significant progress in wedding planning that keeps pace with the work you are delivering. I’ll leave you to work out the details, but you’ll both have some key milestones. For example, you might propose (forgive the pun) the following milestones for you:
- Story treatment
- Outline
- Key character design established
- 1st Draft - Act 1 complete
- 1st Draft - Mid point complete
- 1st Draft - Act 2 complete
- 1st Draft - finished
- 1st Draft read through for structural changes
- 2nd Draft - structural edits made
- 2nd Draft read through for plot adjustments and “followability”
- 3rd Draft - comprehension edits made
- 3rd Draft read through for language and characterisation
- 4th Draft - language / characterisation edits made
- 4th Draft read through for polish / line-edit
- 5th Draft - line edits made
- 5th Draft - beta readers review
- 6th Draft - beta readers comments considered final edits put through
- 7th Draft - [FINAL]
For each of those, your girlfriend should have an equivalent. For example, by the “Treatment” stage, she should have decided the basic structure of the wedding (e.g., rehearsal dinner, breakfast, getting ready, ceremony, evening do). By the “Outline” stage, she should have agreed a rough number of invitees for each element. By the time you’ve finished the first draft, she should know venue and date. By the 4th Draft, she should have finalised guest lists and have invitations planned.
(I’ve never planned a wedding, but I’m guessing you can come up with an appropriate list).
That should keep you both fully motivated and engaged through the whole process, and by the time you get to the final milestone, she will hopefully be quite invested in the wedding going ahead!!!
Oh, and don’t forget to negotiate that, much as she’ll need your input on key decisions (“do you like these flowers?”, “who will the ushers be?”, “what do you think of this venue / menu / honeymoon destination?”), you’ll need her input on your milestones (“can you read this chapter?”, “what do you think of this character, do they feel real?”, “is there a funnier word than ‘artichoke’ here?”).
{I’ll save you that last one; there is no word funnier than ‘artichoke’)
Good luck!
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Yeah, she’s looking for commitment. High-five to her.
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Talk about motivation!!! Get on it!!! 
If my girlfriend gave me that ultimatum I might be saying good-bye to her. Life long love should be between two people - not two people and a book. Ask yourself, is this the only book you’re ever going to write in your life? How will she react to your next project? At the very least I would move the proposal date back to October 2026. Best of luck in whatever you decide.
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I dunno… books are great!
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Speaking as an editor (and assuming this is your first novel and you’re not an Internet celebrity with zillions of followers): cut it to between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Not only will you finish way sooner; you’ll also dramatically increase your odds of a contract offer.
Marriage or publishing?
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Yeah, I understand her reasoning and I am not complaining at all. This book is dedicated to her, so in a way she feels this is what she wants more than a ring. We’ve been together five years now and I’ve been so caught up in trying to pay bills that I haven’t yet published my work. I’ve helped others get published instead. She just wants me to be committed to be own career for both financial security and our happiness in marriage. I work many jobs so she just wants to simplify our lives.
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I’ve helped other smaller media personalities get published. I’ve gotten them six-figure book deals and developed their book ideas. I do have a publishing company that is willing to publish me already because they know the work I’ve done, so getting a good deal really won’t be an issue. It’s just getting it done.
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Well then, doctor… heal thyself.
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There’s always another bus.
What is this “finish”?
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that limit really does vary according to genre.
Arkady Martine came out with a well-received space opera duology a few years ago. originally, I seem to recall, she had written a single long novel, but they asked her to add some long fake quotations (meaning, quotations from fictional sources) as chapter headings to pad out the book and then published it as two novels rather than one.
publishers can, of course, make more money off of two novels than they can off of one.
Well. I started an auto-biography in 2018 and haven’t finished it yet. Luckily I have Scrivener which helps me compile all my memories (which I had on small notepads). I don’t see the end yet despite my 24 chapters… I say good luck, good luck, be patient with yourself. time at the end of a pencil is like weather on the sea…