writing for the sake of it

Today I finally started writing a novel.

I know a lot of people who say that they’ve got a book in them. I’ve got a few in me. But I honestly thought that those books – ideas and magical
thoughts that played about in my head when I was anywhere but somewhere where I could write (the car, for example) – would stay in my head forever.

I think most of all I was afraid that if I started writing I’d find that my ideas made crap books. Or that they were full of holes, lacking transitions and
deploying transparent soulless characters.

My biggest fear is that I’ll abandon my work halfway through. Simply run out of steam, put down my metaphorical pen, and forget about it forever. I hate
the fact that I leave things unfinished. I am a very half arsed person.

My main excuses were always that I didn’t have time (well, I still don’t) and that I couldn’t give up work because we need the money (and
that’s true too).

But excuses are just roadblocks put up by lazy brains, and mine is extremely lazy. So today i finally started actually writing. Not just another synopsis (i
have many), but the first chapter. And a prologue. And despite now being again far behind in my work, I feel a sense of clean and pure achievement. Seven or
eight rewrites later, this writing will be great.

Now please excuse me, I have at least 19 more chapters to go, and i still haven’t figured out how it ends.

Categories: writing and muses

2 Comments

  • alison says:

    Thanks Sandy!
    It’s true, it’s so easy to give things up, and if they were things you didn’t enjoy anymore, then you shouldn’t feel guilty about that. I
    definitely know that it’s fear of failure that stopped me, I always made excuses. But no more. I haven’t written much more yet, but with Christmas
    looming, I really do have good excuses! I am scheduling time for myself though, which I almost never do.

  • Pantalaimon1 says:

    Never give in to any belief you cannot write a book; you just need
    to get up an hour earlier, or late at night. Like now, even. Because if you can achieve one hour’s writing then by the end of one week, you will have
    finalised its second chapter.
    My dearest friend who died recently, she said:
    “You can do anything you want if you give up the belief you can’t do it.”
    Go on, Alison. You will get there!
    Lyra