You CAN write a book!
This morning I received an email that made me smile…or maybe even grin. It was from an aspiring author named Becca. In particular, I loved this part of her message:
“Reading through your blog has been very educational and exciting for me. I love all your knowledge, advice, and mostly your encouragement to not give up when it gets hard. I don’t expect that starting into this will be easy; however, I think it will be so fun to try! My husband and my kids are all very much on board and supportive.”
Go Becca! I love her positive attitude. And to all the Beccas out there reading this, you CAN write a book! No, it’s not easy, but yes, it’s fun to try. And at the end of the day that’s all it really comes down to–trying. And trying. And trying! If you keep pushing yourself forward, day after day, week after week, eventually you’ll have a book. It may not be very good, but that’s okay. My first effort wasn’t very good either. But once I had that first draft, I went back and rewrote it a few times, and that part was fun. In my experience, editing and tweaking is always more enjoyable than coming up with something from scratch.
Writing an entire book takes discipline–and patience. It’s not going to happen overnight. Focusing on moving the story forward little by little will help keep you from feeling overwhelmed. And then one day, after many days of plodding along, your manuscript will be done. Done! If you’re like me, when that happens you’ll probably take a step back from your keyboard, exhale, and ask yourself, “Did I really just do that? How did I do that?”
Then, you’ll do a little dance and go celebrate!
-Maria