This blog follows my journey from inexperienced writer to self-published author (catch up on PART 1 of this blog here) and the stuff I’ve learned along the way.
Let’s start with drafting.
Don’t worry about the quality of writing while drafting
I was a lone wolf during my writing journey – I didn’t have any writing friends or talk to any writing groups. I didn’t show my work to anybody either, except when the work was finished and I sought an editor.
So I didn’t have anybody around to tell me to not worry about the quality of first drafts. They are traditionally awful, but I didn’t know this at the time.
I thought that if the writing on the first draft was crap, it meant that I was a bad writer.
I didn’t know that the first draft just functions as a skeleton for your novel, to just get your thoughts out of your head and onto the paper.
This is where networking with other writers would’ve come in handy and chilled me out a bit more.
People say to write about what you know. I’m here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don’t know anything. So write about something you don’t know. And don’t be scared, ever.
– Toni Morrison
It’s just there to serve as a foundation for your novel and nothing more. You can always edit and improve your work as you go on.
There is so much room for self-doubt and insecurity with writing! Don’t add to it by bashing yourself over a badly written first draft.
Brainstorm to help with writer’s block
Recently I’ve discovered the technique of brainstorming, and how it can help writers suffering from writer’s block.
You can hit a block about anything to do with writing – plot, characters, world-building, you name it, and it can be crippling, time-wasting, and just plain frustrating.
I’ve tried brainstorming quite a few times now, and it’s helped a lot with my writing.
Just focus on the area you’re blocked on, set a timer for however long you want (be it five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty minutes), and type (or write) continuously on that subject, without worrying about grammar, punctuation and spelling and without any pausing or back-editing.
When you’re finished and you read over it, you may be pleasantly surprised at the ideas that come to you, ideas that were blocked before.
BEAUTIFUL WORD OF THE DAY: QUAIL. What you do when you shrink away from that which scares you, eg. I quailed at the thought of doing the job interview.
Procrastination is the writer’s worst enemy
Procrastination, I learned, can be a formidable enemy in writing as it can be deceptive.
We can be lulled into thinking that we have all the time in the world when in fact nothing could be farther than the truth!
The truth is, time is a precious resource. Try hard not to waste it, as you’ll never get it back.
It can rob a lot of precious work out of you and a lot of time as well. Grit your teeth and tackle that chore, even if it hurts (it probably will).
Procrastination and fear can not only stop you living your life, it can stop you from self-publishing your work.
Be highly conscious of how you’re spending your time, and if you’re wasting it, face your fears and do something about it.
Learn the art of balance when writing
It’s important to learn the art of balance in writing. At one stage, I got too obsessive about writing and realised I was boring others to death talking about it, so had to reign myself in.
Make sure you have a good life apart from writing. Writing is an isolating activity that needs to be balanced with social time.
If you need to socialise, go out and do it – don’t use writing as an excuse to not do it.
Don’t use writing as an excuse to not do ANYTHING you need to do. Self-deception gets you nowhere.
The importance of being consistent with writing
I’ve learned to have a consistent schedule in my writing journey. When I first started, my writing schedule was anything but consistent; it was all over the place.
Sometimes I’d leave my writing for days, weeks or even months before getting back to it again.
If I’d only trained myself to be more consistent, my novel would have gotten done so much faster.
I became more and more self-disciplined though as the years wore on, and often ended up writing on weekends and holidays.
Having said that, I wished I would’ve changed my writing schedule to two or three evenings a week after work (instead of writing on weekends) to get more precious social time in.
Sometimes it’s a constant juggling act.
On the positive side of things though, my writing experiences have really trained me to be more self-disciplined and persevering, and I’m grateful for that.
Define what success means to you with writing
What does success mean to you? The fact that it’s finished and you’ve self-published it? A few people are reading it? Getting pocket money? Being able to support yourself through your writing? Or something bigger again?
I used to think that success and the dollars was the B-all and end-all of writing, but now I think differently.
I think do what you most enjoy doing, whatever it is, and keep on doing it whether success comes or not, as our time here on Earth is too short for it to be any other way.
Use your precious time to do what stimulates you and fulfills you – and if that includes writing, well and good.
Keep at it, get it out there, and never stop trying to improve.
That’s what it’s all about, isn’t It? Using your time on Earth wisely.
YOU SHOULD READ BEFORE YOU DIE: FRANKENSTEIN, a sci-fi novel by Mary Shelley. A young scientist named Victor Frankenstein creates a living creature in a scientific experiment, only to realise that he’s created a monster. The novel originated from a light-hearted competition with friends. In 1816 Shelley was visiting friends in Switzerland when the group decided to hold a ghost-writing competition. The result was one of the most enduring horror stories of all time, as the the novel has had a significant influence on popular culture. The novel was published in 1818, when Shelley was just twenty years old.
Have a professional attitude with writing
Authors are now living in the most privileged age in history. We’re no longer reliant on publishing companies to get our work out there.
We can potentially achieve our dreams of success on our own, and countless authors are now doing so.
Just always keep your work to a professional standard. Revise, revise, revise, and after that, get it professionally edited. Do an outstanding book description and get an amazing book cover.
Important resources for creative writers
You can get editing and graphic design services from places like upwork.com and fiverr.com. You can also try 99designs for book covers.
Once you get a book cover, it’s a good idea to purchase an ISBN from your country, include a title and copyright page in your book and publish your book through a distributor (I recommend Draft2Digital).
You can market your book through social media and through other channels such as BookFunnel.
I’ve learned many things along my writing journey, and despite the ride being WAY too long, WAY too rough, and WAY too bumpy, my first novel finally got completed – The Darkness of Magic Book One.
Not ready for the writing journey to end though – not with all those crazy ideas still nagging in my head.
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P.S. NOTES FROM THE DESK:
WHAT I’M READING RIGHT NOW: so glad you asked. It’s Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. The pace of Musk’s life is completely insane. How can someone lead us into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence while still managing to have a love life and children on the side? And take over Twitter? And plan a colony on Mars? What I like about this book is that it also gets into the personal stuff, which makes it more engaging. If he manages to send people to Mars (and they survive), the legacy he’ll leave when he dies will truly be mind-blowing for mankind.