Post by J.A. Stinger on Jul 20, 2016 9:44:18 GMT -5
Source
1. There is no such thing as a perfect book.
Since the dawn of time when humans first started making scratches on cave walls and parchment, there has never been a perfect text created. Every book ever published contains typos, character development flaws, plot holes, needless words, and formatting issues. And that INCLUDES ALL traditionally published books, all the classics, and all Shakespeare's works. There is no perfect book anywhere in the universe.
Sadly, the books trapped in your head will always become less than you imagined them to be when consigned to paper.
But this MUST NOT stop you from writing them, from unperfecting them right onto the page. You must remember that the imperfect book you write is better than the perfect one you don't.
2. Writing is hard.
A friend once told me he thought marketing a book would be hard, but writing it would be the easy part. It is important to note that this friend had NEVER written a book.
And my reply to him? Um, No. Writing IS NOT the easy part. Revising is not the easy part. Editing is not the easy part. Revising AGAIN and AGAIN is not the easy part. Proofreading until your eyes bleed is not the easy part. And for sure, promoting and selling a book while doing the writing part all over again for the next one IS NOT the easy part.
There is NO EASY part.
But that's okay because nothing worth doing is easy.
3. Writing is worth it.
There is no easy part, but I promise you: writing is worth it. Writing is a self-empowering and transformative endeavor. It is the act of making meaning out of chaos, of frolicking with your own inner demons and heroes and commanding them where you will. Your writing creates worlds that other people want to live in. It is magic. It is yourself on a page. It is art.
Many writers talk about how writing is torture to the soul, and we should warn all aspiring writers away from this life of doom unless they absolutely can't do anything else.
I think that's ridiculous.
I love to write. I chose to write. There were a lot of other things I could do, things I was really good and successful at, and I chose writing because there is nothing I'd rather do than tell my stories.
4. Save Your Work.
This one isn't magical or sentimental, but it is hugely important.
Your work and your words are your life. So save them and back them up multiple times in multiple places. This should become your habit, not a casual afterthought.
I don't know how many times I've seen new writers on FB or Twitter moaning that they've just lost a page, or a chapter, or even an entire book. And in our modern day and age, this SHOULD NOT happen. Programs fail, files get deleted or lost, and computers crash and die. We all know this.
If backing up your work three different ways is not a part of your daily routine, you're doing it wrong.
I back up my work every time I finish working on it for longer than thirty minutes. I do this in three simple ways. 1) I save it to Dropbox. 2) I e-mail it to myself. 3) I save it on a USB device.
I never don't do this. It is an integral part of my routine. And it has saved my butt and my work numerous times.
Back up your work. Daily. Just do it.
5. There is no formula.
Search the internet for the phrase, "How to write a book…." and you're going to get a lot of hits.
How to write a book in 30 days.
How to write a book in a weekend.
How to write a bestseller in 10 easy steps.
How to write a book using the outline method, the snowflake method, the McCord method.
I don't believe writing is a formula you find on the internet, or even a method another authors teaches you. The magic of writing cannot be summed up in a set of IKEA instructions. As Emily Dickinson suggested, writing is "unconveyable, like music or witchcraft."
The only way to learn how to write is to do it.
And the only way to get good at it is to do it some more.
About the Author:
Ripley Patton is an award-winning short story writer and the author of The PSS Chronicles, a young adult paranormal thriller series. She lives in Portland, Oregon with one cat, two teenagers, and a man who wants to live on a boat. She also runs a book promotion and author services business called Ripley's Booklist with her son, Soren.
You can find out more about her on her website and on Twitter
1. There is no such thing as a perfect book.
Since the dawn of time when humans first started making scratches on cave walls and parchment, there has never been a perfect text created. Every book ever published contains typos, character development flaws, plot holes, needless words, and formatting issues. And that INCLUDES ALL traditionally published books, all the classics, and all Shakespeare's works. There is no perfect book anywhere in the universe.
Sadly, the books trapped in your head will always become less than you imagined them to be when consigned to paper.
But this MUST NOT stop you from writing them, from unperfecting them right onto the page. You must remember that the imperfect book you write is better than the perfect one you don't.
2. Writing is hard.
A friend once told me he thought marketing a book would be hard, but writing it would be the easy part. It is important to note that this friend had NEVER written a book.
And my reply to him? Um, No. Writing IS NOT the easy part. Revising is not the easy part. Editing is not the easy part. Revising AGAIN and AGAIN is not the easy part. Proofreading until your eyes bleed is not the easy part. And for sure, promoting and selling a book while doing the writing part all over again for the next one IS NOT the easy part.
There is NO EASY part.
But that's okay because nothing worth doing is easy.
3. Writing is worth it.
There is no easy part, but I promise you: writing is worth it. Writing is a self-empowering and transformative endeavor. It is the act of making meaning out of chaos, of frolicking with your own inner demons and heroes and commanding them where you will. Your writing creates worlds that other people want to live in. It is magic. It is yourself on a page. It is art.
Many writers talk about how writing is torture to the soul, and we should warn all aspiring writers away from this life of doom unless they absolutely can't do anything else.
I think that's ridiculous.
I love to write. I chose to write. There were a lot of other things I could do, things I was really good and successful at, and I chose writing because there is nothing I'd rather do than tell my stories.
4. Save Your Work.
This one isn't magical or sentimental, but it is hugely important.
Your work and your words are your life. So save them and back them up multiple times in multiple places. This should become your habit, not a casual afterthought.
I don't know how many times I've seen new writers on FB or Twitter moaning that they've just lost a page, or a chapter, or even an entire book. And in our modern day and age, this SHOULD NOT happen. Programs fail, files get deleted or lost, and computers crash and die. We all know this.
If backing up your work three different ways is not a part of your daily routine, you're doing it wrong.
I back up my work every time I finish working on it for longer than thirty minutes. I do this in three simple ways. 1) I save it to Dropbox. 2) I e-mail it to myself. 3) I save it on a USB device.
I never don't do this. It is an integral part of my routine. And it has saved my butt and my work numerous times.
Back up your work. Daily. Just do it.
5. There is no formula.
Search the internet for the phrase, "How to write a book…." and you're going to get a lot of hits.
How to write a book in 30 days.
How to write a book in a weekend.
How to write a bestseller in 10 easy steps.
How to write a book using the outline method, the snowflake method, the McCord method.
I don't believe writing is a formula you find on the internet, or even a method another authors teaches you. The magic of writing cannot be summed up in a set of IKEA instructions. As Emily Dickinson suggested, writing is "unconveyable, like music or witchcraft."
The only way to learn how to write is to do it.
And the only way to get good at it is to do it some more.
About the Author:
Ripley Patton is an award-winning short story writer and the author of The PSS Chronicles, a young adult paranormal thriller series. She lives in Portland, Oregon with one cat, two teenagers, and a man who wants to live on a boat. She also runs a book promotion and author services business called Ripley's Booklist with her son, Soren.
You can find out more about her on her website and on Twitter