My last update was about my drafting process.
One of my lovely subscribers asked me how I tackled a task as enormous as writing a novel, when it seems so insurmountable.
I remember that feeling with my first novel.
I had a false start around 15 years ago. Spent perhaps a year or two “planning” to write the fucker. Wrote about 5 chapters.
Took me another year or two to admit it wasn’t going anywhere. I gave up. Decided I’d make videogames instead.
Guess how that went.
Then I hit 37 years old and realised I wanted to write that fucking book before I die.
Even if it turns out to be a piece of shit. (It is)
Even if I hate it. (I do)
Even if no one ever reads it. (No one has; not even me 🙃)
So how did I get it done?
First, I made space for it. I gave up playing videogames. I played them a lot back then. I chose early mornings.
Second, once I was ready to start writing, I committed to a daily word count. I began at what I thought was a low amount; I think it was 200 words a day.
It was hard. But I made sure I got those words down. If I didn’t make the count one day, I’d make up for it the next.
I think it took me a month or so to increase that to 500. By the end of the first draft it was 1000.
I started it in January 2020 and finished the first draft in September 2020.
I didn’t miss a single day of writing in that time.
One trap writers fall into (like other creatives), is getting a new idea mid-project. It’s always more exciting than what you’re working on right then, because it’s new and shiny, and you haven’t found the sludgy, gross spots yet.
Halfway through that first draft, I had an idea I fell in love with. I was tempted to switch because I already knew what I was working on was crap.
But I’d committed to finishing. So that’s what I did.
I learned a valuable lesson by doing that.
That writing a book was possible.
Now, I’ve written seven.
The day after I called that book ‘done’, I started working on that other idea. A new book.
It was an idea about a future world ruled by vampires. One where there’d wiped out humanity with their need for blood, turning to virtual reality to fill the void.
That series is The Slip Saga.
That book was A Spectre in the Stream.
I’m close to finishing Book 2 now. And by finishing, I mean finishing, not first draft finishing.
I’ll be publishing it first on Kickstarter, along with a two very special surprises.
It’s called A Phantom in the Forge.
I’m sure you’ve got a big task you’d like to do too. You can do it.
A huge task is just a lot of little tasks in a fancy suit.
You start with the first one. Then grab the next.