Hi! I'm trying to finish a novel and I'm at this stage when there's only 5 or 6 chapters left to finish my first draft. This is not the first time I've been there, and all previous attempts have ended with finished works tidied away in a drawer somewhere. Problem is: half of my brain is already rewriting and editing the beginning and the other half is simply starting other projects.
I don't know if it's a sign I should ease up on it a little, work on something else for a while until I feel up to finishing my first draft properly. Or should I stick with it, even if I am writing more and more slowly and getting upset with what I am producing? Has anybody got any tips to get over this first-draft-fed-up syndrome?
I had a similar problem with my first story. Although I'd outlined the book and knew basically how it ended, I wasn't happy with it, and dissatisfaction grew the nearer the end I got.
I'm not sure if this helps but what I ended up doing was writing up to my outlined ending so I could actually type 'The End'. Then once I started editing from the beginning an idea for a changed ending just presented itself. I went back to the end and changed it, then back to the beginning, but I suppose I jumped back and forth three or four times as parts of the early story suggested more changes.
I confess I found ending the story difficult, particularly because it had to carry on in another book yet still be satisfying enough a conclusion to stand on its own.
Best of luck! :D