So, You Want to Be a Writer?

If anyone had asked me that question 2 years ago, I would have answered “Absolutely”!  I had already been dabbling in writing a book about the administrative profession anyway. It was a piece of cake!

Now when I hear anyone say that they want to write a book, I just provide a sad kind of smile and say, “Bless your heart!”

Writing a book is far more work than people might imagine it to be. It can be quite a complicated journey, especially if you are looking to publish your book along with a million other aspiring authors.

The first discipline in writing a book I discovered (or any other written piece for that matter) is making the time to do it! 

I knew I had only so many months to get the content into editing, which is the first stage of the writing process. There were days that I didn’t want to touch the keys of my laptop.  Some days my mind was too tired, or I drew a blank.  Yet, other days the creative juices and stories would flow.  Writing has an ebb and flow.  The key is not staying too long in the ebb, especially if you are on a deadline, as I was.

I discovered a technique from the Compound Effect’s author, Darren Hardy, that became quite valuable.   He called it “Jamming” or “Jam sessions.” The technique helps a writer to be as productive as possible.

To stay on target to get the manuscript into the editor’s hands, I started carving out 90-minute jam sessions during my week where I would strictly concentrate and focus on writing for that full 90 minutes without stopping.

THAT was challenging! 

To be completely forthcoming, most days, I would only last 60 minutes.  But then there were days where I would be lost entirely in storytelling and writing for well over 2 hours!  I just never knew which way the day was going to go.

Once you have the primary content written, you are not done!  In fact, I realized after writing almost a year that what I thought was the end of that journey actually just kicked off the next phase of my book.  It was time for the editing! 

There were a few more jam sessions in my future, and, ultimately, I got it done!

If you want to be a writer, you can surely do it.

Just remember that writing a book is truly a labor of love and dedication, a little motivation, and requires some gentle nudges along the way.

Rock On!

Debbie Gross

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