20 July

Permanent Student, Never Writer...

 

How many How-To Write books have you read?

How many hours have you spent reading those books?

Has that hour tally equalled your actual book writing time?

I'll guess the answer is a no way is hell.

Picture yourself the kid you once were... did you read a gob of theoretical books on how to ride a bicycle before you tried to ride a bicycle? Or did your parent give you the main pointers — the ins and outs of how to stay balanced and keep moving without kissing the ditch — and then did they plop you on the seat, give you a hefty push, and you were on your wobbling way, that with much practice and your fair share of knee-scraping falls, you found your bike-riding groove?

Rrright...so why should book writing be any different???

Yes, bike riding isn't writing, but it kind of is...

  • You have an idea for a fiction or non-fiction book.
  • You have the theory down as to formulating a story line.
  • You've done your backstory and character research.
  • Your command of your language is sound enough with the help of an online editing program, mentor, and/or a beta reader.

No other writer How-To's will get you knowing anything more than sitting at your desk and plunking down words on the page, however clumsy you may think their order is. At some point, you have to sit on that bike seat and start peddling forward.

Biker Rider/Book Writer Courage, peeps, knowing that as you go, spills will definitely happen, but you're emotionally ready to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again.

My Advice: If you've read around two to five How To's, stop with the reading already, and start with the writing. Your theoretical knowledge is sound enough to begin writing your own book, and any queries you might have as you go will be better answered in specific ways, through writer forums,  a writers group, a writing mentor/instructor or beta reader.

Don't become a permanent student/expert theorist. Those titles won't get you a published book.

It's time now for you to ACT on that knowledge and mire through the muck with the rest of us literary grunts who write and rewrite and edit and re-edit, and groan and moan and exhaust our minds to a final finished product. The life of a writer is anything but perfect. If you want perfect, draw cartoons. The cartoon world is perfect. Nothing else in life is.

HOMEWORK: Shelve all those How-To writer books, and start writing on your book tonight. The only way you'll fulfill your book writing dream is to start writing. In the end, nothing else matters.

P.S. Stephen King didn't have his own How-To Writer book to read before he started writing. At some point, the bespectacled dude started humping like the rest of us, right??? My advice is, do what he did, but without the drugs... ;-)

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