I admire people who can write books very quickly. I believe I heard that Stephen King wrote a rough draft of The Shining in one night. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was scared out of his mind because he wrote that book after he visited a haunted hotel. I guess that’s what you call motivation!
Then there’s me. The idea of the book I’m writing came to me in January of 2011. That’s four years ago. I keep telling myself “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” My book started off as a letter, but in the meantime I changed it to be something entirely different. When I reached about 20,000 words, I thought I would never be able to make it to at least 60,000 words, which is the amount of words a book needs to be a book. I kept writing because I knew I would think of more things as I went along plus there are angels who help me. Yes, I’m talking about the kind of angels you think of when you think of angels. They whisper ideas in my head, and I write them down. Sometimes they make sure I hear a conversation or remind me of something that happened that needs to go in my book. Still other times they point me in the direction of a book or an article that helps with my writing. For instance, I found a great place on Facebook to read articles about writing called The Writer’s Circle. It’s little miracles like that. If you’re a writer, I bet these things happen to you too.
I printed off the first draft of my book last summer, made edits and realized I forgot to write about an entire year. I made the sections into chapters which was a great comfort and helped me feel more organized. Setting a goal to write 3,000 words a week helped me reach almost 55,000 words. I wrote about the year I missed, worked on the ending and am reading through another draft. I felt I would be able to make my goal because it seemed I had so much more to say than I did when my book had 20,000 words. It’s because ideas kept coming to me.
If you’re writing a book, and you think you won’t be able to make it because it’s just to hard, keep going. You never know what’s going to happen when you sit down in front of your laptop or a piece of paper. There are times when I have no idea what I’m going to write, but memories or ideas trickle in when I least expect. Taking the time to make an effort has helped me achieve my goals.
I thank my angels for the whispers they put in my ear that end up in my head and help me keep going. My hope is that when the book is finally finished, my book angels will guide the story towards a successful publication!
Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for, without being seen, they are present with you. ~St. Francis of Sales
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Congratulations! You can do a short novel or a mid-length novel too, Mary Ann. Then there’s the novella. If you’re looking for a publisher, you’d have to check their guidelines for word count. By time an editor gets it, it could be even more word count than you anticipated, or sometimes less. They work wonders.
Best of luck to you on your writing journey.
Thanks for the advice! It will be an interesting journey. 🙂
I admire you for being able to string your ideas and memories into an entire book. I love to write, and have often wished I could write a book, but I seem to be limited to short stories. For now, I’m happy to blog. Maybe someday, a book will find its way out of my head. If that ever happens, I’ll be grateful for the ideas you shared here.