We’ve all had a friend like this, the one who’s going to write a book someday. He’s still planning the book (been planning it for several years) and rather than write it, he wants to talk to you about it.
I know all about this friend, because I was him.
Several of my friends and a few acquaintances knew that I wanted to write another book (besides the one I wrote when I was eighteen). And often these friends would say, “So how’s the book coming along.”
My response: “I still need to do a little more planning. But hey, I figured this one thing out and it’s really cool.”
“I need to do a little more planning,” became my mantra.
My friends were starting to think, “Yeah right. He’s never going to write the book.” I felt embarrassed each time I was left to defend–unsuccessfully–why I hadn’t started yet. I was a bowl of excuses. I don’t have time. I don’t have the energy. The book isn’t ready yet.
Not ready yet? It had been prowling the streets of my imagination for six years! Maybe more.
I didn’t actually realize how much of a wanna-be I was–all talk and no action–until last night when Bryce from my writing group mentioned something.
“I’m glad you’re actually writing now,” he said. “Because I seriously thought that you would never start your book. You kept talking about it, but nothing ever got done.”
Why couldn’t I get over the planning stage? And what is different now that is allowing me to actually proceed with writing the book?
I think a lot of things contributed to the break-through that’s helping me move forward. And I’m pretty sure I know what was keeping me from achieving my goals.
Fear. Fear that I wouldn’t do it right the first time. Fear that maybe I don’t have what it takes to become a writer. Fear had effectively frozen me in my tracks.
So the number one thing I needed to overcome was the idea that things had to be perfect the first time. I had to turn off the internal editor (AKA the internal perfectionist) and just write. Don’t get me wrong, there should be a time for planning. But once that’s done, for heaven’s sake, do the writing! And that’s what I had to tell myself.
Some other things that helped me oust the perfectionist dictator:
1) I decided not to show the book to anyone until it’s finished. This gives me the chance to edit things after the first draft and clean it up so it’s not so much of a train wreck.
2) During the writing, I made it a rule that I cannot edit once I’ve written a paragraph, except in extreme cases. This allows me to turn off the internal editor and worry more about the writing and the story than the actual mechanics. I’ll worry about this stuff when draft one is done.
3) Don’t worry that you’ll forget about foreshadowing! Hey, you’re not showing this thing to anyone until after draft two or three, so you’ve got plenty of time to go back later–after draft one–and foreshadow every deus ex machina to your heart’s content.
Peer Pressure
I owe a lot to my writing group for helping me get out of non-writing mode. Each week the writing group would get together and say how much writing they got done this week and which agents they had sent to or what contracts were coming in on which books. I had nothing to say. I felt left behind. These are people I know, and they’re achieving their goals. Why couldn’t I?
I made a goal that if I was going to do one thing this year, it would be to write my book and send it to a publisher or agent. I looked deep inside and found the determination to do this, even if I had to push other things out of the way in order to do so.
After I found the determination, I had to find a way–build a road, if you will–in order to be able to write every day.
Trial and Error
I kept a log of how I spent my time and tried writing at different times of the day to see what would work best for me.
I tried mornings. They didn’t work. I suspected they wouldn’t. I don’t know why I even went down that road.
I tried afternoons right after my day job. That didn’t work either. I needed time to eat dinner and wind down from the day, plus there are too many activities and meetings that I needed to attend that fall in the afternoon/evening slot of the day.
That left nights. I had noticed that this was where I tended to waste most of my time. And all my efforts at trying to get to bed before midnight had always failed in the past. I’m a night person; I have always been that way. As a teenager, most of the time I was doing my writing after everyone else was in bed. Why was I trying fight it? I decided to roll with the natural schedule I’ve been on for a very long time.
So I tried writing in the late evenings. And things started getting done. I told my friends that between certain hours at night (right before bed) that I was unavailable to chat or go do things. Now that I’ve been at this schedule for several weeks now, I get really antsy if my writing time has come and I’m not writing. Writing is becoming a habit.
Deadline Pressure
I’ve discovered that deadlines motivate me. I also knew that you’re more likely to reach a goal if you tell someone about it. So I built my little webpage and told the people of the world (all five of them) about my goal to write a book by the end of July.
My brother built the progress bar to help me along. So every night when I’m feeling like I want to do something other than write, I remember the webpage and the status bar. People want to see progress, and I want to give my brother the opportunity of updating the status bar–didn’t want to take for granted his hard work in making this tool!
Stagnation is the Devil
The process of breaking the non-writing habit has taught me many things, but foremost among them is this: If I’m not moving ahead, I will never reach my dreams. If I want to drive to California, I won’t make it there if I don’t get in the car and start putting miles behind me (in the right direction, of course).
Movement is necessary, otherwise your goals and your ideas go stagnant in the pool of your mind. Keep the fresh ideas flowing in, process them, and let them flow through your fingers to the keyboard. This is the movement that one day will lead to publishing success, if that’s what you’re looking for.
That’s what I’m looking for. And that’s what I’m going to find, because I’ll do what I have to in order to make it happen.
Living the Dream
Maybe I’m speaking a little too early. I mean, the book’s nowhere near done, I haven’t reached my goals, and I’m not a full-time writer yet.
It won’t be today or tomorrow and it probably won’t be even a year or two from now that I can say I’m making a living at writing. But each time I meet my daily goals, I can call myself a success. And every time the progress bar moves, I can see that I’m moving in the right direction.
Last night Bryce asked Brandon this question, “You’re living the dream. You’re doing what we all want to be doing, writing books for a living. Do you ever just want to pinch yourself and say this is so awesome?”
“Of course. Every day I wake up whenever I want to and realize that I get to write today. And do it for a living.” Then he added, “This is the best job in the world.”
–”Stewart!”
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