Scrappy Rough Draft: Use science to strategically motivate yourself & finish writing your book

by Donna Barker

Often, the main difference between a work-in-progress and a finished manuscript is the tenacity of the writer. You can see your idea play out inside your head in beautifully composed and communicated scenes. Then you start to write, but the words feel clunky. Your critical inner voice tells you your writing is not as good as it should be. You start to self-sabotage. You convince yourself that you don’t have enough time to sit down and do the work anyway. And your dream of writing this book remains as just a beautiful idea.

With practical and proven exercises, author and coach Donna Barker connects behavioural science to the habits and mindsets that successful authors use to finish their first, second, and final drafts.

Whether you're writing your first book or your fiftieth, Scrappy Rough Draft has the tools you need to build self-confidence, develop a writing habit that works for you, and identify the kinds of people you need in your writing community to help you get your story out of your head and onto the page.

This is the first book in the Creative Academy Guides for Writers series. Be sure to check out the rest of the guides for writers in this series.

Scrappy Rough Draft by Donna Barker
Build Better Characters by Eileen Cook
Strategic Series Author by Crystal Hunt

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Donna Barker is a career non-fiction ghostwriter and curriculum creator whose work has won national awards (which other people get to show on their shelves). She has also written award-winning fiction under the penname Danika Bloom.

Donna is the co-founder of The Creative Academy for Writers with her author pals Eileen Cook and Crystal (CJ) Hunt. With Eileen and Crystal, she is the editor of books in the *Creative Academy Guides For Writers* series.

When she's not wearing her Danika Bloom persona, Donna leads a weekly mastermind group for writers, edits creative non-fiction, and does her best to only put on 'leaving the house clothes' once a week.

Join her free writer's community for support on your own writing adventure at http://creativeacademyforwriters.com/.

Reviews

[Elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much writing advice out there. How do you distinguish between what's woo and what works? In this amazing book, Barker cites the science and illustrates the concepts with personal examples on a variety of strategies to help authors get through their first draft.
One of my favourite parts of the book is about re-framing your goals from: "I will do x this week", to "It will bring me joy to complete x this week."
I also enjoyed the section where she talks about the common strategy of calling our first draft 'shitty' and how to brainstorm other ways of thinking about your first draft to find a term that works better for you. I will now refer to all my first drafts as Fearless First Drafts.
There's also great advice on habit formation, avoiding distractions, self talk and affirmations.
I highly recommend this book for all writers at any stage in their writing journey.

[Michele Amitrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could hardly put this book down.

Donna Barker uses a lot of interesting examples to explain why most readers just can't get to sit down and write, and then she gives a lot of useful suggestions on how to shut the inner critic and just write every word we have inside us. Great words. Shitty words. Words that we will toss aside only to pick up again and put back in the book in a new, revised form.

The process of writing a book is not easy, every person who attempted this endeavour knows this to be true. It's daunting to write a book, and the pressure we (and others) put on ourselves mostly don't help. When you say to somebody you're writing a book there are expectations. How much is worth? When are you going to sell it? Is it any good?

These are questions that can paralyze a writer for good. 'Scrappy Rough Draft' teaches you how to navigare your first draft (with patience and optimism) and how to iron out words on a consistente basis (again, with lots of patience and yes, you guessed it, optimism).

What I came away with when putting down this book was a sense of calm and relief. I now know I can win this inner battle. Every writer can. As Donna said, "You already have everything you need to finish your scrappy rough draft right inside you. It's been there since the day you first decided to write a book. And it's there still. You simply need to see it and believe it."

If you fell stuck, lazy or scared, read this book and motivate yourself to write the story you are meant to write.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donna Barker presents a behavioral approach to writing based on science and research. The book is filled with the reasons why we do things that are counterproductive to writing (negative self-talk, procrastination, etc.) and provides motivation, affirmations, and exercises to help put you in the frame of mind to make writing a productive and joyful habit. She writes with a sense of humor that doesn't go overboard into cutesy.

In my field of grant writing, I am very familiar with S.M.A.R.T. goals, so her explanations, tips and suggestions for goal setting really resonated with me. I also found her strategy for acknowledging small wins very helpful. I love when non-fiction writers cite their sources, and there's a full resource list at the end of the book, plus an online site where you can download the tools mentioned throughout the book.

Thanks to Hidden Gems Books for an e-book copy for review.

[Shalon Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scrappy Rough Draft is SO GOOD! I want to give it to every one of my friends who struggles with finishing that book they've been dreaming of writing for years. Even as someone who's been around the writers block a few times, I learned so much and laughed so much---I seriously had to put a bookmark every 15-20 pages.

Donna is naturally talented in understanding the shy, awkward, horribly self-deprecating writer's brain, and coaxing that monster out of its cave and back into the world where it can get the sunshine it needs to heal. She just GETS that part of us, and her words are so compassionate and motivating.

This book is first and foremost about self-love for the writer, and all the ways we can begin to do that self-care RIGHT NOW! It's also got some ass-kicking power to overcome the delusional, self-defeating ways our brains hijack us. And lastly, it's all grounded in the latest research on mind-health, growth mindset, and creative psychology.

This book truly has everything you need to get that scrappy rough draft out into the real world! JUST READ IT!

[Deniz Soykurumcetin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book in a heartbeat.
The writer gets you. All the troubles you have during the creative process. Expectation: A perfect book in every way. Reality: an empty page in front of you, weird sentences, lousy word choices. She holds your hand to tell you it is all normal, and suggest different coping mechanism with the hurdles of the creative process. I spent some time naming my "scrappy" draft. The exercises are down to earth and fun. I was happily surprised in one of the exercises about my writing goals and what is important to "me" as a writer. I think the book captures the essence of writing with an optimistic state of heart, growth mindset, continuous iteration.
I strongly recommend it.
The author is the hero of this book and it is her journey.
The best way to travel is through this book.

[John Mavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donna Barker's Scrappy Rough Draft: Use Science to Strategically Motivate Yourself & Finish Writing Your Book (The Creative Academy) shows storytellers how to reframe their approach to writing in order to create without restraint. This first book in the Creative Academy Guides for Writers series shares encouraging tips on making time to write, goal-setting, self-motivation, writer's block, and the importance of celebrating small wins. Filled with research-backed insights and relavatory exercises, Scrappy Rough Draft is a motivational gem that can fill any writer's first draft with promise, fight, and fire.

[Michelle Cornish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for shifting your writing mindset!

While I've heard some of this advice before, there were many new tidbits as well. I especially liked how the author tied in brain science - fascinating! I also love the concept the book is built around - changing our mindset so our first drafts become scrappy (or whatever word you choose) instead of the other "s" word. Can't wait to read more books in this series.

[David Berube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected, but an amazing read with lots of insight.

I thought this book was going to be about outlining, and I was wrong about that. It was however, fascinating about how our mind works when it comes to us sitting down to write. Very well done... There are definitely some tricks and nuances that I intend to use... You should be proud of this masterpiece....

[Loladc16 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

To the point and well researched!!! The author clearly knows what she is talking about and has definitly done her homework as well as experience with the subject. Thank you very much!

[Stacey Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The concepts Ms. Barker puts forth in Scrappy Rough Draft have helped me immensely! She gave me proven methods to silence my inner critic and get the work of writing done. Highly recommend!

[Helena Aldwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need a book to help encourage you to finish your rough draft, I highly recommend this book! I love all the different exercises and how much it ties into brain science, because at the end of the day the blocks I have are all thanks to my mental mess. I will be using the exercises in this book as often as I need to as I work on my exciting rough draft, and be passing this title off to other writer friends who need a boost of encouragement. Thank you, Donna Barker & the Creative Academy team!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of filler here, and not a ton of science. It's cherry-picking psychology ideas, not following through one line of science and applying it to the writing process.

[Katrina Litwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only fun (and funny) to read, it's highly motivating. I was completely energized after finishing the book.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a good summary book for those writers who've never taken a formal writing class, workshop or attended a writers retreat. it reminded me of things covered in my writing classes. 
quick & short chapters written with practical tips/ideas & exercises to help you start that book you've always wanted to write or help those who've gotten stuck.

it's mostly to help you w/your writing process in order to finish your first draft.
chapters such as:  
Interruptions and how to get around them 
If you don't know where/how to start 
What are the steps in writing a first draft 
The science of self-talk 
The science of the inner-critic 
How to schedule time for writing

The best exercise which helped me was the chapter entitled "Yes..but.."
Basically you write down your negative thoughts about your writing and then add to the end of the sentence..yes..but and turn that negative into a positive. 
For exs. I have no experience as a writer..                 
yes..but..i have a great idea for a story and a new point of view to bring to the table.

For me, the main point the author was making was to analyze the writing process/what's happening and adjust your techniques to what works for you.

Thank you to Hidden Gems for the ARC in exchange for my review.

[Marie Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent motivational book for beginners and established writers. I know Donna Barker through the Creative Academy, and her positive, upbeat voice shines through the chapters of this book. Highly recommended.

[Jamie Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Find Writing Success, Moving Book from Mind to the Page

I'm not quite sure if the subtitle is really accurate. I didn't really see where the author used science. Still, this book is chock-full of helpful ideas that will help you figure out writing habits and goals that will get you to the place where you can write what they call the scrappy rough draft of your book. As someone who occasionally writes and helps other writers, I found the ideas practical and actionable. The author writes in an easy conversational manner that I like to see in nonfiction books. You definitely get the sense that she has “walked the talk” in terms of writing, both in her own writing and in helping others with their books as a writing coach. I found much useful information here—on juggling the rest of your life and writing as well as writing itself. I like that each chapter ends with action steps. If you feel you have a book in you, this relatively straightforward, go-get-'em book can help you find and nurture the right mindset, habits, and goals that mean something to you and fit into your world and what you would like your writing (and writing life) to be.

I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com

[Kasey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly just the author's ego project, where by halfway through, I was skipping to the "Your Turn" portions of the chapters with nothing lost. Kinda like scrolling to the bottom of an online recipe page to get the actual recipe instead of the cook's life story.
The exercises at the end of the chapters were ok. It was mostly about time management and mindsets, which I understand and accept that a lot of people, including me, struggle with, but I am not sold on this book nor the company as a whole yet.
It just didn't feel like a writing book.
Yeah it talked about writing some of the time and its author adamantly asserts shes an author, but a few different word choices and it could of have a book on gardening quilting or scrappy ways to fold a napkin.
I am going to read one of the ones by Eileen Cook to see if a different style or presentation from a different author will make the difference.
We shall see.

[Jasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exactly the read I needed to take a step back from my writing, reflect, and learn how to celebrate my small wins instead of focusing on the goals I haven't been able to achieve yet.
It was an inspiring, and motivating read. And as with "Build Better Characters" (another book of this series) I appreciated the "Your turn"'s exercises and especially how Barker used actual research from scientists to back up her arguments.

Definitely recommend to all struggling, but inspiring writers out there!

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of methods to help you wiggle out of self-blocking and into the flow of writing. I liked the chapter on where/how to start: illuminating the bedrock fundamentals without trivializing, diminishing, or leaving any room for "yeah, but...". Occasionally dips into Freudian views, rather than more credible and more helpful psychodynamic frameworks (Jung, Horney, et al), but not enough to lose points.

[Michelle Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scrappy Rough Draft is a super helpful craft book that I’ve been working through while working through my first draft of my first novel.

It is stocked full on tips and tricks to help work through blocks and struggles, as well as reaffirmations that I am
not alone and those struggles I am enduring are not foreign to first time writers.

It was very helpful and I know that it will be one I recommend to others and that I will read multiple times.

[Audra Spicer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Barker explains how to give ourselves permission to work on a draft by giving it a name like "scrappy rough draft." I named mine "exploring rough draft" because of what my protag's doing--and it really did help me when I thought about the rough draft's purpose and personality. Thanks, Donna!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring book on writing your rough draft and getting your book written. The term "scrappy" means tough or fighting and is not a replacement for crappy. The premise is that your rough draft is a lot of work and should be honored.

[Jane Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

super for the scared writer

Scared of writing that first draft? Not able to get Down to it? Not only will this book help you write it but you will learn to love your first draft and finish it.

Great little book for wannabe or stuck writers. Very useful

[Johanna Haas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great motivator

Lots of good info on how to motivate yourself to write. Worth the money. However, I would hope liked more about the mechanics of a draft.

[Katherine Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info but a bit too much service/product promotion.

[Riversue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really is about motivation and using the latest research to propel the reader into writing the story they want to write.

[Lori Puma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is chock full of useful advice about how to get words on a page and actually enjoy the process.

I'm a developmental editor and I've encountered a lot of advice on this topic, a lot of which can actually discourage writers from writing or make writers feel like they're not doing it right. (cough cough On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft) While you might not need everything in this book, chances are that some parts of it will help you get words on the page, and be kinder to yourself in the process.

For my own writing, I found the exercise on productive procrastination and how to use small blocks of time (5 or 10 minutes) the most useful.

For working with editing clients, I'm going to be changing my approach in terms of setting goals and giving homework assignments. I love the idea of focusing more on what will bring joy vs. choosing a specific target to be met so it creates more small wins and happiness. Happy writers write.

[Bryan Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info