Yes – You Really Can Do It: 5 Tips and Tricks for Starting Your Book

One of the more surprising and gratifying things that came out of writing and publishing my first book was the sheer number of people who have said that they, too, have a book (or short story, screenplay, poetry, etc.) that they have long wanted to write, but have never gotten around to completing.

Sometimes they have just the kernel of an idea that has stuck with them for years. Others went so far as to write thousands of words before their attention was taken away by something else in their lives – and we all have significant distractions to contend with.

Regardless of whether you have a fully-baked idea or one that is half-formed; you have written a hundred pages or zero; you studied to become a writer or you have never considered yourself a writer – you are a storyteller – and if you want to be, you can absolutely be a writer.

Here are some of my recommended tips and tricks for getting started with your own writing project:

1. START SMALL
   
   Writing an entire book (for example) is an incredibly daunting task. Most people haven’t written more than a lengthy email in a very, very long time, if ever. Therefore, don’t focus on the enormity of the task in front of you.
   
   Rather, just pick one small thing you want to start with – it could be a scene; a line or two of dialogue; the description of a place; the beginnings of a character sketch; the rough outline of a plot development.
   
   Focus on planting a seed and not on growing the entire forest.
   
   
2. 15 MINUTES A DAY
   
   Writing is like going to the gym – you wouldn’t try to lift 500 lbs. on your first day in the gym. Rather, you would start by lifting, say, 10 lbs and then over time work your way up to the heavier weights.
   
   Writing is the same – you need to build up your writing “muscles” over time. The easiest way to do that is to commit to writing for 10-15 mintues a day, about anything at all. The goal here isn’t to dive right in to writing your amazing novel but rather to get your brain used to writing. As such, really anything at all you write will be useful, so long as you commit to doing it regularly.
   
   
3. BE KIND AND FORGIVING TO YOURSELF
   
   Chances are, you may not much like what you do end up writing, especially when you are getting started, but do not get discouraged. As a beginning (or returning) writer, set your expectations such that you are proud of the fact that you invested time and energy into writing rather than beating yourself up over what you actually wrote.
   
   Especially at the beginning, the goal is to write as much as possible and quality be damned – there is always time to improve what you wrote later, should it come to that. For now, just concentrate on the act of writing more than on the “quality” of the output.
   
   
4. SAVE EVERYTHING
   
   Given what will likely be some uneven output quality (especially, though not restricted to, when you are getting started), you might be sorely tempted to throw away what you may consider to be sophomoric, uneven, trite, or just plain unreadable writing.
   
   Don’t. Every single thing you write may at some point be useful, and one you delete it, it’s gone forever. I cannot tell you the number of times I have spent an hour writing something I know is “terrible” but which later provided me with a certain turn of phrase; description of an emotion or location; or character detail that I ended up using to great effect much later.
   
   Remember, digital storage these days is essentially free, so save everything you write, even if you think it stinks. Tomorrow you might find it contains exactly the thing you need.
   
   
5. LET YOUR PASSION GUIDE YOU
   
   I often caused myself unnecessary stress by trying to write something I wasn’t passionate about, but which I felt I “should” be passionate about. I think of these as blind alleyways – sometimes the only way out is to back up and start over, heading in a new direction.
   
   When getting started, don’t let your schedule, plan, or outline determine what you will write about next – let your passion and interests dictate that. First of all, you never know where your passions might take you, and I often find I end up somewhere much more interesting and fruitful than where I thought I wanted to go.
   
   Second, writing about something you are not interested in is a little like trying to push water uphill – frustrating and ineffective – and you can easily get discouraged. Instead, if you find yourself stuck, or not really enjoying what you are writing about, then stop and instead write about anything at all that gets you fired up.
   
   Remember, the goal is to work those writing muscles and to get yourself into writing shape more than it is to produce the next great novel on your first go and in one sitting.