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March 2019

Why Now is the Best Time to Write Your Story!

Why Now is the Best Time to Write Your Story!

written by Frank McKinley

Do you have a book burning inside you and the fire is so bright you can’t ignore it?

Is there a story in your heart that you must write – and if you don’t, you’ll die with a thousand regrets?

Is there a lesson you can teach in a way that no one else can, and if you don’t the world will miss out?

Good. Now is the time.

This post is by Positive Writer contributor Frank McKinley.

But I’ve got some really good reasons why I haven’t started…

Of course you do.

And I know them all, because at one time or another, I’ve used them to keep my writing in the closet.

When I was young, I wrote a lot. I didn’t share it because people treated me like I didn’t matter. I was hurt already. I didn’t want to risk being targeted as a fool for daring to be creative.

Pain makes us hide.

It puts up walls where there shouldn’t be walls.

I have a friend who has gone through unimaginable pain, way more than I ever have. We’re in some of the same writing groups. I’ve encouraged her to share her story, even if it’s just a piece or two.

Last week, she took the plunge. She wrote about how scared she was of writing publicly. She shared it in the group.

It was freaking brilliant.

I thought to myself, “Where have you been hiding this talent?”

Then I told her how great it was.

The words you put on the page matter. But the words you give to other writers encouraging them to press on and do the good work of writing and sharing can be life changing.

Today, if you’ve been waiting to write and share your story because it’s not perfect yet, or all your ducks aren’t in a row yet, or you’re too scared to start – consider this your invitation to begin.

The time is now.

Now is the best time to write your story! Click To Tweet

Here are three compelling reasons why today is the absolute best day to start.

You don’t have to have all your ducks in a row before you write.

The experts that tell you that you need an audience first are trying to help you.

But what they might be doing is giving you a severe case of writer’s block.

Here’s how that looks when you talk to yourself:

  • I don’t have 10,000 followers on social media, so no one will take me seriously.
  • My story has been told by others 50,000 times already. Why bother?
  • I’m not Stephen King. What makes me think I can sell a single book?

Shut up.

Social media can be valuable. But it’s a borrowed platform. So is Medium. The owners can change all the rules whenever they want. And as inconceivable as it may seem, they can even fail.

Where will you be then?

You could – and should – have your own blog. But that will cost you a little money. If you’re short of cash, your host won’t cut you a break.

None of these are platforms. They’re stages. They’re where people come to see you, read your work, and applaud your efforts.

Your platform is your message, your story. You take that with you everywhere. And it’s yours until you die.

So wherever you go, there you are. And so is your story. The best thing you can do is find a stage where your message fits. Metal bands don’t play at the Grand Old Opry. Symphonies don’t play in smoky downtown bars. You don’t wear jeans that are three sizes too small.

There’s a place for you to shine.

It’s up to you to choose yourself and find it.

The time is now.

Write your story and build your following while you’re working.

Don’t let perfectionism and procrastination keep you quiet and make you hide.

You won’t be better tomorrow if you don’t write today.

There are no perfect writers.

If you’ve been sold that myth, I’m sorry.

What seems perfect is really just successful. And success looks different for every bestselling author.

So how do you define “success”?

Success means your message is reaching those who want to hear it.

You can’t go back and do the past differently.

You can dream of the better future that is possible.

It won’t happen if you don’t write something today.

Don’t worry about it being perfect or mind-blowingly awesome. Just be honest. Spill your verbal guts. Say something that scares you, and maybe even seems a little raw.

How do you know it’s safe?

If you don’t feel a definite “No” rising up inside you when you’re editing, leave it in.

Queasy feelings are okay.

Wondering how people might react is permissible.

Just don’t do something you know you shouldn’t, and things should work out okay.

Don’t let perfection keep you from sharing something that’s close enough to perfect.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Your forever begins now.

Your readers are waiting.

If you keep your story bottled up, it will ruin you.

I know, that’s a pretty bold statement.

But think about it.

Have you ever gotten really excited about something, but your Inner Critic talked you out of it?

How did that make you feel?

Sad?

Resentful?

Angry?

I’ll bet it burned away inside of you because you bottled it up. You may have even told your friends, but since you never took action, you’re ashamed to talk about it anymore. Maybe they feel sorry for you that you had such a big dream. Since it was so big, they don’t blame you for giving up. Who wouldn’t?

Hogwash.

Give it a chance.

How can you know what it will look like if you don’t chase it? How will you know the impact your story could have if you never write it or share it?

Consider this your kick in the pants.

And if you need a community to encourage you, I can hook you up with one no matter where you live.

Don’t break your own heart by denying it what it wants.

You could be three feet from gold.

Start Now

Chances are if you’re reading this blog, you’re doing some writing.

That’s great.

Wherever you are in your writing, you can always do more. More words. More sharing. Or more of a balance between the two. All you need to do to call yourself a writer is write.

When you share regularly, others will call you a writer.

What’s your story? What do you feel compelled to share with the world? What do you have that can make us all better? Who are the people who matter who will receive your words with joy?

Find them, and do the work.

If they don’t respond right away, here’s an analogy.

When you need shoes, you go to the store and see what’s available. There are dress shoes, athletic shoes, and shoes you wear to goof off. You pick the appropriate style and try some on. Some will fit, others won’t. Walk around and see how you feel before you give the shopkeeper your money.

When you find the perfect pair, you know.

It may take time to find where your story fits. That’s okay. You’ve got to try it out in different places. When you find a fit, stay there and keep writing until it doesn’t work anymore.

When your shoes wear out, you buy another pair. You don’t stop walking when you get holes in your soles. When your writing doesn’t fit anymore, find a place where it does.

And trust me, there is a place.

It may be a long road, and you’ll have to take every step.

Start now.

We need your story.

Your Next Move?

Don’t quit. Read This Next!

What Writing Taught Me About Myself (And Could Teach You Too!)

What Writing Taught Me About Myself (And Could Teach You Too!)

written by Bryan Hutchinson

My first published novel was, well, not my first published novel. I’ve been working as a ghostwriter behind the scenes for a decade, and have plenty of experience in a range of genres. Romances set in high schools, Regency-era tropes, supernatural tales of communities with superpowers – you name it. But when I wanted to publish something under my own name, I went with true crime. That’s when I really started to learn a lot about myself, thanks to writing…

Note: This is a guest post by: Rhiannon D’Averc, she is a crime writer based in the UK. You can follow her on Twitter and see the latest news and updates on her website. She is also the Chief Editor of London Runway, an indie fashion publication in the UK’s capital.

The result was Boy Under Water – Dennis Nilsen: The True Story of a Serial Killer. It’s based on a real series of murders, as the name suggests. While I might have had plenty of experience in other genres, true crime taught me some home truths that I might not otherwise have learned. Here’s what I picked up.

  1. Why I write true crime

It might seem silly, but do we ever really question why we write?

Most of us just like telling stories (or harbor dreams of being the next multi-millionaire breakout author). But why do we tell the particular stories that we do?

If you explain to someone that you’re writing a romance novel, their questions will usually center around why you’ve chosen to write at all. But when I told people about the true crime novel that was burning a hole on my hard drive, they usually wanted to know why I would choose such a gruesome topic.

That led to some soul-searching.

When I peeled it all back, I realized that my lifelong fascination with true crime probably had a lot to do with the reason why I watch horror movies. I watch them, even though I often hate them, because I want to know. How do you get rid of ghosts that want to do you harm? How do you stop a cursed video from killing you? What kind of red flags should you avoid if you don’t want to get dismembered by hillbillies in a remote wooded area? (You need to know this!)

Knowing is magic. Knowing keeps you safe. If I ever did, say, end up in a situation where a ghost from inside a haunted videotape was trying to track me down, I now know just to show the video to someone else. That’s all it takes to stay safe.

Knowing about serial killers, murderers, and conmen is a similar concept. The more I learn and write about them, the less likely it is that I’ll end up a victim of one. Even though I have potentially raised the risk by becoming a true crime writer, if cinema has taught me anything!

  1. What I might be capable of

Most of us consider ourselves to be normal, upstanding citizens. Maybe we break a parking law now and then or take the free samples out of our hotel rooms – they pretty much expect us to do that, right? But we’re not bad people. Not the kind of bad that might result in us murdering another human being… and then going on to do it again, and again, and again.

But then I started trying to get into the mind of a serial killer in order to write about him. I wanted the book to be as authentic as possible, so I dedicated a lot of time and effort to this realism. I devoured everything Nilsen had said or written in the public view. I got to know him, and his circumstances. I read views from people who knew him. I even exchanged a letter with the man himself, a short while before he died in prison.

What I discovered along this exploration was that there was no real particular trigger or abuse that turned Nilsen into a serial killer. I don’t think he was born evil. I don’t believe there’s a gene or a specific single incident which forced him to kill people.

What I found in my research was a lonely, sad, isolated man. He thought he was cleverer than he was, but also perhaps suspected somewhere in a dark corner of his mind that he wasn’t all that. He felt rejected, thrown away by the countless lovers who came and went in the space of a night. This built upon the rejection of a childhood spent in a poor Scottish family, and then the army, where a young, gay, slightly odd man was not cherished. It grew in the form of a fantasy that was deeply connected to the death of his grandfather and, left unchecked, evolved into something far more dangerous.

These are all human feelings. We might not call them ‘normal’, but we really mean not ‘healthy’ or ‘fitting society’. Actually, it’s very normal to feel different to others around us. It’s normal to have fantasies which grow and evolve as our sexuality develops – particularly if we aren’t able to engage in relationships with others, which might replace those fantasies.

The more I researched, the more I felt like any one of us could be subject to just the right (or wrong) kind of mix of experiences and feelings to become a killer. Maybe if Nilsen had been less lonely, or found a partner who wanted to stay with him, or not been frustrated with both his career and his personal life, the crimes would not have happened.

I don’t mean to absolve his blame – he still took action, decisively and on his own. He has rightly been condemned for those actions. But it did make me think that perhaps, there but for the grace of God go we.

  1. What I was aiming for

If you had asked me before I published the book what I wanted to come of it, I probably wouldn’t have been able to give a clear answer. There were wild dreams, of course – like being the next multi-millionaire author. But I didn’t really know how I would feel about any kind of result that happened.

Actually, I found that I was pretty satisfied with the modest sales that I got. I’m not a bestselling author just yet, and definitely not a millionaire. But I do feel happy with the response. Having friends, distant family members, and people I hadn’t spoken to in years tell me they’d read and enjoyed the book was pure reward.

More than anything, this experience has taught me that I’m happy to write, and ecstatic for people to read my work.

The money earned is more on the practical side of things, a necessity that cannot be ignored if I want to write full-time. But knowing I’m in it for the love of writing means that I can happily throw myself into another project, without fear that a failure to sell well would be a crushing disappointment.

So, why would I recommend true crime writing to any author?

Because I believe that it can teach you a lot, no matter what genre you normally write in. You can explore the human psyche at its worst, as well as examining the motivations that drive you to write. You also learn an invaluable skill in terms of research, which can stand you in good stead when it comes to adding realism to your work. And, like me, you might just find that it is the right genre for you.

What has writing taught you about yourself? Think about it, and if you like, leave a comment and share.