AFAWN - Getting Started - Part 1

Be Honest with Yourself

I can’t count how many people I’ve heard say, “I have an idea for a book…” but never end up writing it. You may have even said this to other people. And for sure, having an idea is a critical step to getting started. No idea, no book. But having an idea alone isn’t going to get your book written (unless you’re rich and hire a ghostwriter). So, the first thing you have to do is be honest with yourself. How badly do you want to actually write this book?

You see, writing is no different than any other activity like deciding to work out, or play a musical instrument, or draw/paint, or play video games, or reading. To avoid quickly losing interest, it should be something you enjoy doing. It should be something you enjoy thinking about. If using your imagination is a chore or if you’re only writing a book to make money, then you can still do it, but it’ll be a tough road for you.

For me, this moment happened back in 2002 (freshman year of college). I had this idea for a story for a couple years, but had never done anything with it. But as I thought more about it, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I kept replaying scenes over and over in my mind and actually had difficulty falling asleep at times. So, for the first time, I sat down at my computer and started writing. And when I was done, I fell asleep faster than a green snake in a sugar cane field. It’s probably worth noting that I never “finished” writing this particular story. I did write a lot, mostly in the form of outlines and character glossaries, but we’ll talk more about that later. What I took away from this experience though was that I enjoyed thinking up stories and writing allowed me to get pieces out of my head so I could think up new scenes.