It’s More Involved Than You Think
I’m not trying to discourage you at all. It’s quite the contrary, actually. Writing a novel is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. I have such a feeling of accomplishment and because of that, all the work is worth it.
That being said, I found the writing to be the easiest part, and believe me, even that wasn’t a breeze. It’s the many other things involved in the creation of a novel that makes it overwhelming at times. Navigating all of it knowing what to do, what not to do, can be daunting enough to make you abandon writing. I don’t want to see anyone do that. Through this blog post and all of my other posts, I try to give you as much information as I can to help you through the entire process of novel writing.
In order to get your creation published and into the hands of potential readers, you’re going to need patience, resilience, and creativity.
Here’s the thing, in this blog I give you all the steps needed, plus all the help along the way to write your own novel. But, like I said, THE ONE THING NO ONE TELLS YOU IS that it isn’t a quick project and takes a lot more work and stamina from start to finish than you may anticipate. I WANT YOU TO BE READY.
Let me explain what I meant by patience, resilience, and creativity.
Patience in Your Writing
There will undoubtedly be ups and downs throughout the process. You’ll get busy, you’ll get out of the habit of writing frequently, you may sit and stare at blank pages. You may even struggle getting it edited properly, into print, and the toughest of all… into the hands of readers. That leads us to…
Resilience to Finish the Novel
You’re going to need to continually remind yourself why you started this project in the first place. Tell yourself:
- what you love about writing
- slow and steady wins the race
- that you will conquer each issue that may arise
- that it’ll all be worth it
- it’s a process
- if it were simple, everyone would do it
Creativity Throughout the Novel
It goes without saying that you need to be creative to be a writer. The creativity to which I”m referring is for editing and marketing.
It’s extremely important to make sure your book is grammatically correct. I despise reading a book that’s riddled with mistakes. The one I’m currently reading has a great story, but the mistakes are so many, it’s downright pathetic. To me, it’s sloppy and lazy and most readers hate it.
If you’re not able to find and correct those mistakes yourself, I recommend Grammarly. Grammarly is a program that to me, is invaluable. It finds the obvious mistakes and can save you a fortune in hiring a professional editor.
I know it can be expensive to hire a professional editor, especially if you r book needs a complete overhaul with punctuation, grammar, tenses, plot holes, flow, etc.
This however is the simple best thing you can do to for your book. it’s absolutely needed if you want a following of readers. That being said, here’s where creativity kicks in. I’m not talking about being creative with your story line. I’m talking about being creative in areas related to you book, such as editing, a cover, etc. Those things can cost hundreds of dollars or more, but if you’re creative, you can reduce that considerably.
Look Close to Home for an Editor
You may find one in your circle who could save you a lot of money. I’ll give you my story to help you to think outside the box as well.
I don’t have hundreds of dollars to hire everyone I think could make my book more spectacular. I did a two things related to editing.
- I took a ten dollar proofreading course on Udemy to help myself do the first edit.
- I talked about the book. I talked to everyone I knew. “I need an editor.” “Do you know of anyone who does editing?” I found two. The one turned out to be a perfect fit.
I am a Neuromuscular Massage Therapist. My editor is a client. She’s the editor in chief at a law firm. We barter services. I get professional editing without having to spend a dime. Win! Win!
Be creative. Think outside of the box. Think of unusual, uncommon ways to accomplish what you need. And my n umber one piece of advice:
Enjoy every minute of it.
If you need any help in this area, send me a message and we’ll set up a Writing Life Coaching session.
Until then, happy writing everyone. Gina
