Ten Year Writer

1: Why I started writing...

I never, ever, ever planned on being a writer. After having my first child twenty years ago, I didn't even have the focus or energy to read anything more than a cardboard picture book, much less write anything more than a word or two on the memo line on a checkbook. In 2011, I had to move my elderly parent midway across the country, take care of three small kids, and work a full-time job as an attorney. When I'd return home at the end of the day, cook and clean, and tuck everyone in bed, I needed an outlet. 

Upon a friend's recommendation, I read The Godfather by Mario Puzo. When I finished the thick book filled with family stories, leadership, action, and sex, I said, "I can write a book." That was it! Reading that book was my epiphany. Mario Puzo became my obsession. I studied everything about him and his motivation. Mainly, his motivation was money. He had a lot of debt, but was consistently offered many opportunities to write—the Superman film script sounded like an odd choice for someone who became famous as the writer of Mafia stories, but that job paid his tax debt. And hubby and I had debt and a big family—there's no way I'll pay off student loans before I turn seventy. So Mario Puzo became an inspiration. 

Yet, I didn't set out to write the next Godfather novel. But I did want to write the next Hunger Games. During one of my research sessions, I read that Colleen Hoover had gone to Walmart and sat down on the store floor and read the Hunger Games, taking notes on how to write. That's why a major writing tip is to read and widely. 

I abandoned that YA book and decided that I needed more structure. Truthfully, I had no plan or knowledge of how to write a book, but I kept reading. And I read a lot after The Godfather sparked my renewed love of reading. At the time, I discovered Oyster, which was an ebook subscription service, much like Kindle Unlimited, and not unlike Wattpad. I read every Romance book I could devour. I found some favorite Romance writers. A lot of the stories I read weren't perfect. There were a lot of grammar and punctuation issues but the stories... The stories were incredibly engaging and the plots were tight. To this day, there are some authors who I would auto-buy because they pulled me out of some really dark times. I wanted to create that same feeling for others.

But I didn't know how. Quite frankly, I didn't do my due diligence and study self-publishing. All I had was a goal—to publish my first book by age 40. I read my first writing craft book during vacation, then while recovering after surgery when I got sick on that vacation. The determination to write a book made me start writing. All I had were scenes and fantasies about a couple who couldn't get enough of each other. 

I wrote out of order. 

I don't believe to start writing you must write in any kind of structure or organize the scenes or write linearly. Essentially, to start writing, just write what comes to mind. If it's just a note about your character's appearance, personality, and motivations, write it. Once you have a lot of scenes and character notes, you will be able to put it all together in a cohesive manner. But you can't organize a blank page. 

Inspiration will strike where you least expect it and you should be prepared to write at any time the inclination knocks. EL James used to type out scenes and dialogue for Fifty Shades of Grey on her Blackberry on her commute to work. If you don't have a pen and paper but have your smartphone, then type out your note or quote on an app. There are so many wonderful ones, but I like Keep from Google since I'm a Chrome user. I'd later migrated those notes into my first manuscript. Those notations sparked an entire chapter. 

Sometimes the biggest challenge is how much to write. I recommend 750 words. That's it. If you can write 750 words every day, you will have a fifty-thousand-word draft in a little over two months. It's a starting point for your writing practice. It's not a huge commitment. If you want to know how long 750 words are, well, you just read it. 

Have a go. Happy writing!