Do You Want to Write a Book?

I know I’ve posted on this subject before, but I’m going to do it again anyway. Every so often someone asks me about writing. They say they’ve thought about it, or they’ve always wanted to try it, or they have a particular story they want to tell.

My advice is always the same: just do it. Sit down, right now, or as soon as you can, and start writing. I was one of you . . . I always wanted to write a book. I still am that person, because there are still books I want (and need) to write. 

In the past I edited and designed a couple hundred books, being around that many books and authors, made my yearning to do it that much stronger.

Less than two years ago, I started writing my first book. 

Was it hard? YES! Damn hard. 
Did it take discipline? Yep. Every day.
Did I learn anything? I learn something very single time I sit down to write.
What if it isn’t any good? How will you know until you try? What if it IS good? 
How do you get started? Just sit down and write.

I’m not saying it’s easy, it isn’t. But the hardest part is getting started. I have NEVER experienced the kind of joy I get from writing, in any other thing I’ve done professionally. It literally fills me with happiness. It consumes me. It makes every other part of my life better because I love it so much, but also because I look at everything differently since I started writing. Everything.

Writing makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me feel. It allows me to feel. Believe me, I am NOT writing the next great American novel. I write sweet little stories that I love. 

And my goal? For people to love reading them, or want to read them, or feel something when they read them. That’s it. 

Would I like to sell a bjillion copies? Sure. And that was my goal when I started writing: New York Times Best Seller. 

Now, it doesn’t matter. One person. That’s all that matters. If one person tells me they loved the book, or liked it, or something in it made them angry, or cry, or made them happy, or made them care in any way . . . my God, what could feel better than to hear that?

So my advice to you, if you want to write a book, is please . . . just sit down and start writing. Write what you know. You have good stories, you know you do. You’ve told them, and people were interested in hearing them. You’ve probably told those stories more than once. So instead of telling them again, write them. Write one. You will not believe how amazing it will feel when you finish it.