I came across a statistic that stated that 90% of Americans want to write a book.
That is a lot of people. When I tell someone that I’m working on a book, usually the reaction is something to the effect of “you are? Wow!” The interest is usually more in the tone of “I wish I could do that” than “what is your book about?” We are living in an age that is gushing with hopes, dreams, and opportunity. People want to do something that will make an impact for generations to come. A book could be the highway to that dream.
The problem is, books are big. People like the idea of writing a book, but it is a huge undertaking. Writing a book can take years, so how do you do it?
I think of it the same as building a house, at least initially. Houses are built one brick, one piece of lumber, one nail at a time. There is no other way to build anything. You do it one piece at a time. If you put the pieces together in a systematic way, eventually it will be complete.
If your goal is to build a book, start today. Make an outline of the book you want to write, and then start writing. There are strategies to make the process systematic, and at times it will be painful. Every minute you spend on your book is another minute you won’t be doing something else. If you work full-time and have a family, the truth is that the time will mostly be taken out of sleep time.
Over the coming weeks, months, and maybe years, I will share bits of my experience, guidance from other authors, and parts of a system you could adopt for yourself. Some posts will be updated or replaced as needed. I will cover topics such as developing characters, relationships, world-building, story-telling, and sentence crafting.
When you decided to write a book of your own, I will look forward to reading it. Now get out there and start laying bricks. Stay the course and you can do it.