If I had a dollar for every time someone asks me how to write a book, that is, the part other than actually building the awards, I could, well, buy you and a few friends over for dinner. So I haven’t been asked loads and loads of times, but enough to know that it’s a popular question.
I have four books published and another one on the way in June. There are two more, but those are a long time ago and far away (aka “practice”). This is what has worked for me…
*HAVE A ROUTINE
The main part of the writing is here: “Seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” I have a specific time when I sit down to write, which helps the writing muse come play with me. When it’s time for bed and I do my nightly routine, I’m ready for sleep. As soon as vitamin D and K drops hit my tongue, I feel sleepy, even if I wasn’t that sleepy before. It’s the same in the morning: I have my coffee and read the daily report from the New York Times (I’ll always be a native New Yorker), sit in my writing nest, and I’m ready to write. The muse awaits me at that time and place.
I also have a specific playlist or album for each book; As soon as that music starts playing, it’s Pavlovian and I’m automatically transported to Old Jerusalem, the mountains of Idaho, Scotland in 1597, Los Angeles, wherever the book takes place.
*GIVE YOURSELF A SET AMOUNT OF TIME TO WRITE… OR NOT… OR ALTERNATE BOTH
If I give myself all day to write, then I have all day to… really, not write so much. It’s like I’m saying to myself, “Oh, I’ve got all this time, so I’ll just look out the window. And then maybe rearrange a drawer or two.” Yes, if I find myself doing other tasks, that could be part of brainstorming time (see below). But I also feel a little guilty that I’m not writing. If I give myself an hour or two at a time, I usually write for a full hour or two.
*GIVE YOURSELF ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
I am not very picky about deadlines because for me nothing can speed up this process, even though I am a very fast writer. I also enjoy the breadth of open time. Also, in direct contradiction to the above, the space of a full day to write is, well, delicious. And if one or two drawers can even be rearranged, that’s fine.
*HAVE A NOTEBOOK HANDY
Ideas seem to come more often when I’m doing the dishes, taking a shower, folding laundry, and the like. My best time to think is in the car, especially on long road trips. My phone is always by my side, ready to put notes in the little notebook section (by voice while driving, of course).
* STARTS WHERE
You don’t have to start at the beginning. And you don’t have to spend a lot of time perfecting the principle because it will change once the rest of the book is released.
*MY WRITING OFTEN SURPRISES ME
Talking about the book making itself known, it might sound a bit crazy, but I am often amazed by the writing process. I know that many authors create meticulous outlines. I’m not one of them. Sometimes I set up a schematic at the end of the game, to track the movement and make sure it flows, but that’s about it.
I once talked about this being surprised thing in a screenwriting class. The professor said, “You mean you say to yourself, ‘I can’t believe I just wrote that?’ Everyone laughed, including me.
But well, yes. I mean that. My characters take on a life of their own. They often talk to me in the shower or in the car; it can be a bit crowded at times in both places. The story suddenly goes in a very different direction than I ever imagined. That’s where the magic happens.
*WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?
“If I knew, I certainly wouldn’t tell you!” was Stephen King’s fascinating and unkind response to an interviewer who asked him this question. I thought he was being unreasonably insolent until I realized that he was actually giving the answer: he doesn’t know. Writers and artists often don’t know where their ideas come from.
My answer when someone asks me this question? “They just come.” My ideas seem to come in their own time and of their own accord from the ethers. I finished Life on Hollywood Lane a couple of months ago and I had no firm idea of what my next book will be. Now I have several that appeared in the void created by finishing the previous book.
One of the fundamental principles of writing is to write about what you know. Taking experiences from my life and turning them into meaningful, impactful and inspiring stories is my main focus… and the ideas just come.
*GO BACK TO THAT SPACIOUS THING
I fully understand why writers need to keep writing retreats. I am lucky that when the door to my writing room is closed, my family and visitors know to give me my time and space. Much of writing involves what I call incubating.
I once had a job that involved writing, and I was incubating, needing to go to the bathroom, and interrupting my train of thought as I was walking down the hall. I hope my coworkers didn’t think I was too rude, but they probably did because I probably was. I grew up with a very creative father who had a hard time being interrupted, so I understand the creative process. However, many people do not understand it at all. “Oh, you can go back to that.” That is not true. The book or article will be written, of course, but an interruption can entertain an idea. Also, for those of us who get deep (and I do mean deep) into our flow it can be physically painful for it to break.
I startle when someone walks in while I’m writing even a simple email; That’s how engrossed (I was going to say lost, but I’m not lost, I’m right there) I get into whatever I’m doing. It’s definitely a high-level problem, to be sure, but it can be frustrating. One time I was working on a CD review and I was reading the lyrics, which were deeply moving and moving. I was completely absorbed in the words, truly transported to another world. Someone burst in (actually it felt like a wild beast walking into the room… like most writers, artists, and healers, I’m incredibly sensitive to energy), and I screamed at the top of my lungs. Okay, maybe I wasn’t that loud, but the person wasn’t amused.
I may be totally making this up, but I vaguely remember a crazy story about a writer who captured word clouds as they came to mind. One time the cloud passed over her and she grabbed it, ran to the house and wrote the words below backwards (as the cloud passed over her)! I think I heard it from a famous writer like Julia Cameron or someone like that. (If you know who said this, I love if you would let me know!)
Writers are a different breed of people…as are electricians, as are horsehair braiders, as we all are. But writers, creators, and healers definitely need to carve out time for uninterrupted spaciousness.
*USE ALL SENSES
Writing comes alive with texture, smell, taste, and sound. Some writers (myself included) love telling the story more than writing the descriptions. But the latter helps the former to get under the skin, become an experience lived rather than just read, and stays with us long after the book is finished.
*WHAT TO DO WITH WRITER’S BLOCK
I don’t have much to say about this, because I really only write a book when I’m inspired, which is more and more often these days. The routine, along with the playlist, automatically gets me in the mood.
By far the most difficult book for me to write was spellweaver, which is about a healer during a witch hunt in Scotland. The parts were magical, so it was fun to write them. I finally wrote the hard part and finished it. But the book was still a difficult subject. I finally said to myself, “Okay, work on it for twenty minutes a day.” Twenty minutes would turn out to be much more, of course; the main thing was to sit down and start.
Another difficult thing to write about was the crucifixion in Message from Mary (about Mary Magdalene). Other parts were also difficult. I finally wrote them down instead of fearing them. Once they were done, the rest of the book flowed.
*HOW LONG DOES A BOOK TAKE?
This is wild for me. i wrote viewing in two weeks, it just came out in a download. Maria it took a summer. angles in overtime It took a few years because I was working as an editor at a magazine, and my power of the word went into that job. I started spellweaver in 2009 and would return to it from time to time; It took me a year when I finally got going in 2016. Life on Hollywood Lane it took about nine months. It can vary, as you can see.
SO IN CONCLUSION…
Have you noticed how many people start sentences with “So” these days? Even high-level news reporters do, along with most of their interviewees. Speakers at Toastmasters get clicked, even when they really mean, “So…”
But I digress. In fact, I have tried not to write. Being a writer can be a tough job, just like being a musician, an actor, or anything that doesn’t have a reliable paycheck. But for me it is much more difficult not to write. Also, my characters would come in, hand on hip, foot tapping, and they wouldn’t leave me alone until I had written their stories.
I write really great books, if I do say so myself and if I listen to the many people who rave about them. I’ve been involved with traditional publishers, but these days it’s more often recommended to go our own way with desktop publishing. That way we keep creative control and a much higher percentage of the money. Also, aside from JK Rowling and Dan Brown, authors are expected to do their own marketing anyway.
If writing is your art, let us read your words. Actually, anything we do can be a work of art: write a story, sing a song, raise a child, smile at the lonely neighbor, dunk a basketball… whatever it is, let us see it.
Our lives are our works of art, really. Following whatever calls to your heart, doing whatever you want to do, whatever we do best will benefit us and everyone around us, and that’s for all of us.
Much of the muse is based on what I call magic… which is not some remote quality that only a few people have. We all have magic. Let the magic turn on the muse. So share your gift… we are waiting for you! What is your gift to share?
