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Writing a book worry free.
Why do we worry so much about how we are going to write a book? I recently saw a tweet from a youngster who was going to dive into book writing after being a fan fiction writer. He seemed genuinely concerned about this decision. So, while I am primarily speaking to an older demographic, youngsters, listen up and learn.
Here’s five (5) ways to write a book worry free
(1) Practice consistency – meaning do it every day like brushing your teeth or taking your vitamins. The more you write, the better you get and making it a priority and doing it every day will take a lot of worry about it away. Now, if you are like me and worry you won’t be able to do it every day, then pick a schedule for yourself that works. This is supposed to be fun, remember that. But if your weekly Mahjong game is going to get in the way and give you the blues then go around that rock in the road. You can just move the writing to another day or another hour. It is worth the feeling of being worry free.
(2) Plan the amount of time you have to write. The young folks will like this because they are SOOOO busy. But we older, wiser writers know that any time is a good time when it’s something that we love. So, anyway, pick out how many minutes or hours you want to contribute to your book. You can feasibly get anywhere from 500-1000 good words down in an hour. That’s 2-5 pages give or take.
(3) Have no plans. Yes, you heard right. If you try to PLAN the writing in advance then you may find a bit of worry. Like, “what if nobody reads this”? Or, “what if my kids read this”? Or “I’m not good at this”. That’s going WAAAY too far in advance. So, stop worrying and just enjoy this time you have to express your storytelling ability. It is okay to be writing a memoir. It’s okay to be writing Snow White from your perspective. Pretend that no one will ever read it but YOU and have some fun. And who knows? You may find that all the other worrisome thoughts fade away.
Ready for the fun stuff?
(4) Take a notebook everywhere. When you have downtime like sitting at the doctor’s office, write a few lines. At the DMV? Write something. Waiting for a plane, train, or bus? Yep. Time to write. This will stop that old excuse “I DON’T HAVE TIME”.
(5) Find your place. I have written in some pretty weird places but my fav place is in a car on a trip as a passenger. I can really focus in the quiet of a car, or with just a little radio playing. This might now work for you especially if you have a chatty driver. Having a fav place to write makes the experience so much more enjoyable. It will encourage writing.
What if you don’t have a special writing spot?
Don’t worry about it. If all you have is an old beat up desk in a corner, that’s okay. Even if you just use your breakfast bar, it is fine. Just make it YOURS. Put a plant close by, put some tunes on your smartphone and get busy.
While this is not a complete list, it is a good start to kill that old worry-monster. Writing is FUN.
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