If you’re not willing to suffer through hours, days, weeks and yes, even months of not being able to write anything useable, then I’ve got some shocking news for you, writing isn’t for you.
The Internet seems to be of two general thought schools on the subject of first drafts.
They go like this:
One: The first draft is your brain-barf, pure, unadulterated word puke, a memory dump, Michelangelo’s block of marble. The writer’s job in the first drafting process is to get as much of it down on paper as humanly possible; it’s for second drafts and beyond to chip away at the mess left behind.
Two: Word-spew is for amateurs. Efficient writers who want to write real books and make money to write more books will plot out their drafts, making Excel spreadsheets full of color-coded scene lists, arranged by character and codified by act. First drafts are the upwellings of all this hard pre-work, and are polished, precise, and require minimal rework before being shipped to your agent or CreateSpace, whichever you prefer.
Can I offer a third way? I’ve nicknamed it the “Four D’s” – four elements that help make a first draft, even an unpolished one, coherent and complete.
~This is a guest post by world renowned bestselling author, Jerry B. Jenkins. Jerry has written more than 185 books. He’s had 21 New York Times bestsellers, including the Left Behind series, and has sold more than 70 million copies. He now teaches his advanced writing techniques to aspiring authors at JerryJenkins.com. Read his 5 most crucial tips for anyone who wants to write a book.
If you’re like me, you’ve had trouble getting your rear end in that chair and writing.
Or if you do get there, the last thing you’re doing is writing.
You don’t have to tell me. I’m a professional procrastinator. I know all the excuses.
There’s something simultaneously rewarding and utterly frustrating about pushing through your writing to get it into a semi-finished state.
It can take days and weeks, sometimes longer, but the feeling of having written something is great. Here are a few tips for making the actual writing process of that challenge more enjoyable.
Writers mistakenly believe there are endless reasons why you do not produce:
You think you’re too lazy to write.
You worry your stories are not good enough.
You want to write, but can’t seem to make yourself sit down and do it.
These are all excuses, as well as variations of the same struggle. The enemy of writers everywhere is…
Is it time for you to love your writer’s block?
What? Are you crazy?
Okay, maybe not love it. I mean, writer’s block is a terrible thing. It likes to sit between you and a deadline. Between you and finishing your first manuscript. Or between you and the publisher’s advance upon delivery of the second book in your series. It’s an obstacle you have to overcome to reach your goals.
Right?
Today was an astonishingly wonderful day. One of the best. Ever. Perhaps even life changing.
Note: This is a guest post by Wesley Banks, he’s the author of Hope In Every Raindrop, and blogs at WesleyBanksAuthor when he’s not out on an adventure with his dog, Story. ~
I recently read several articles from authors detailing their book launch successes and failures.
I was hoping I’d click on the blog post and there’d be some magical to-do list that I could follow and quickly propel myself up Amazon’s best-seller list on my first launch day. Unfortunately there was no such list…
With Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation in theaters I thought it’d be fun to repost this article I wrote a couple years ago about Tom Cruise and the art of being yourself.
Have you ever wondered how to express yourself artistically in a way that captures the hearts and ignites the imagination of other people? I have, and I learned the secret as to how when I met Tom Cruise.