Finishing My Book

Photo Cred: John O'Nolan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnonolan/4898796303

I'm finishing my book today. I probably should have ended that sentence with an exclamation point instead of a common period, but I've been working on getting the exclamation point out of my writing. It just does not convey the emotion you intended when you wrote it.

I'm writing this to take a break from editing the final couple of scenes.

Now, I am super duper excited, but I know there is a lot more work ahead. The road to writing and publishing a book is long, windy, emotional, and difficult. But we writers do it anyway because to not write makes us bleed on the inside. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself here. I'm still bleeding, sweating, crying until this work of ten years of my life gets published. Somehow, some way, some time, some day, it will be a real book.

My next step is to print the pages out and read them to make sure everything coalesces just the way I meant it to. And then I will write my query letter and finalize my research on agents who might like to take a look at what I've done.

This book I've written is more than a book. It's five years of my childhood brought to fruition in a meaningful test of truth and courage. I was right when I said the reason I had to write the story was to keep it with me and let it go at the same time. I never want to forget the events of that part of my life, and I was worried they would fade away from me like old skin and get washed down the drain of my mind. But putting them together like this, into a form that I love, allows me to hold on forever to the past so it can never disintegrate.

Today, someone overheard me say I was a writer. He introduced himself and asked for some advice. "I cook a lot," he said. "And I want to write a cookbook, but I have no idea how to do it, get it published, and such." My advice to him was to write the book and research agents. We also talked about the option of self-publishing and about how he might build his platform by starting a Youtube channel. His questions are the same questions I had before I really got down and dirty and wrote my book.

I am including a link to a page by writer Jeff Goins. I think he offers some very good, concrete advice for what to do to get your book written. I've followed a lot of it. The biggest tips for me are to write an outline and to create a calendar of daily writing goals. Before I did these things, I was all over the place mentally and literally with the organization of events and placement of scenes.

I hope this post and link help you, struggling writer. Keep writing. The world needs to hear what you have to say.

Good Tips for Getting it Done