Category: Writing

The hardest part of writing a book is writing the first draft.

That’s until you have written it.

Once you have knocked it down, it becomes the easiest part. Then editing becomes the most painful activity.

For the last four days, I am grappling with how to tell the story of my inner critic.

My first approach was to construct various conversations between the two of us, make them funny and yet insightful.

That still is the goal.

But if you have written anything in your life, you would know that thoughts rarely portray on paper as well as they do in the head.

I conjured up a couple of thousand words on the first day while my mind tried to figure out how to tell the story.

The second day I woke up with the idea to write numbered paragraphs. Just like David Sedaris’s book ‘Theft by Finding.’ So I spent the whole day scanning my diaries to find moments when my inner critic and I had some interesting encounters.

I was thrilled to find our first mishap. It was in January 2011. For more than ten years, I have been aware of the presence of my inner critic.

I have come across many snippets in my diaries and journals where I am denigrating myself, but it was, in fact, my inner critic accusing me, belittling me, and stripping off my self-confidence.

But how to put it together as a story?

Just the diary entries won’t do because most of them are monologues. That could be very boring to read. I want this book to be witty and insightful.

So many times, I almost gave up.

My inner critic was sitting on a wall, laughing his head off, watching me struggle. Yet, it is his laughs that keep me going.

Presently I am just collecting all the related incidents and inner thoughts I am finding in my diaries.

I was delighted yesterday when I found a paragraph that I thought was a perfect opening for the book.

Today morning I wrote a scene that too can become the opening chapter.

I am still searching for the right tone of voice. I want it to be mature and funny, self-humorist but compassionate, revealing yet reserved. I have a glimpse of it at places which is heartening. I will be delighted if I could learn to include humor in my writing. I have been an uptight person most of my life. I am at a stage in life where I can loosen up and laugh at my own quirks.

This book is different than the first one. Progress is slow. Then I remind myself that it is just the first draft, after all.

First drafts are meant to like this. Anne Lamott calls them sh*ty first drafts.

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the ‘down draft’ — you just get it down. The second draft is the ‘up draft’ — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy. — Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a professional, writes Lamott, when you first sit down with something new, “We all often feel like we are pulling teeth.”

David Rakoff too compares them to sh*t.

Writing — I can really only speak to writing here — always, always only starts out as shit: an infant of monstrous aspect; bawling, ugly, terrible, and it stays terrible for a long, long time (sometimes forever). Unlike cooking, for example, where largely edible, if raw, ingredients are assembled, cut, heated, and otherwise manipulated into something both digestible and palatable, writing is closer to having to reverse-engineer a meal out of rotten food. — David Rakoff, Half Empty

Whenever Austin Kleon writes a new book, he reminds himself:

“It doesn’t matter if it’s good right now, it just needs to exist.”

That is what I am reminding myself over and over again. Right now, the story just needs to exist. In time my brain will figure out a structure.

Until then, I need to keep going.

If you have been writing for some time, chances are you want to write a book. 

You get, I think there is a book in me, moments now and then, but you ignore them thinking writing a book is too big a project and you are not ready for it yet.

This is what I used to think too. 

For years I believed the books are written by people who are from some other planet. 

But then, last month, I worked up enough courage to write a book. That too in one week. That single act has been a game-changer for me.

It was as if some magic spell was broken, and I could see that writing books are a process like cooking a recipe or building a house or growing veggies.

Nothing more.

Most people are not able to write their books because it’s very confusing out there. There are too many things to learn and not enough time to learn them.

But if you are committed and willing to learn, you can break that barrier and build yourself a lucrative and fulfilling career as an author.

I have found, writing a book is a 12 steps process. Once you know what they are, it is easy to concentrate on them one by one, learn the basics and then start implementing them.

Without much ado, here they are:

1. Find a topic

Your first job is to find a topic. That topic needs to be exciting enough so that you can work on it. And it needs to be something that people want to pay money for. 

There is a big market out there on books about Cryptocurrency, but the topic hardly excites me, so you will not find any book from me on Cryptocurrency.

On the other hand, I am very much interested in productivity. It is a subject that intrigues me and baffles me. I would love to explore it from a different angle and see if I could write something different from what is out there.

Make a list of topics you are interested in writing about. It could be the memoir of your growing up in the countryside or a trip you took recently, or your grandmother’s recipes. Or it could be something you have already written about on your blog that could be developed into a book.

2. Outline your book

Once you have settled on a topic, the next step is to outline it. There are several ways to outline your book, depending upon how you want to tackle it. 

It could be a chronological occurrence of events. Or it could be like a document with headings and sub-heading. It doesn’t matter as long as you have an outline. 

You might be writing your articles or blog posts with an outline, but it is tough to write a book without an outline. An outline will scope your book and make sure you do not stray too much out of the scope. 

It is not there to restrict you. You can add to it or change it if it is not working. But you must have one before you start writing the book.

3. Write the first draft

This is the exciting part. Do not expect to write a polished product at this point. Let it be as messy as it comes out to be. The point is to get everything that is on your mind onto the paper. 

Do it as quickly as possible. I wrote mine in four days. It will be tough to get back to the book and pick up the pieces of thread if you leave too much gap while writing your first draft. So many writers are not able to finish their books because they leave their first draft halfway. Then they find it too hard to get back to it.

4. Get it structurally edited

Once you have written the first draft and think the book is hanging together, it is a good idea to hire a structural editor to look at it. The structural editor will be able to pick up the holes in your argument and will be able to tell you whether the book works as it is or you need to use a different structure for it. 

Fix the book based on the comments.

5. Get the beta readers to provide comments

It is time now to give the book to a few of your trusted fans who are familiar with your work and are willing to help out with your book. Asking their feedback early in the process will help you write a much better book than toiling away for months to figure out how to make it work.

6. Revise/Rewrite/Self-edit

Now is the time to polish your work. Revise it. Rewrite it if you have to. 

Once you have done the final draft, self-edit it for 4 Cs of writing — clear, clean, concise, and compelling.

7. Professional editing

It is time for someone else to work on your manuscript and turn it into the book you want it to be. There are many kinds of editors — line editors, copy editors, and proofreaders. I recommend engaging at least two of the copy editors and proofreaders. They are essential for your book to look professional. 

8. Cover design

If the book is for your family and friends, you can take the chance and design the book cover yourself. But if your book will compete with thousands of other books published each day, you will need a professionally designed book cover. It will cost you a bit of money but keep in mind that “books are judged by their cover.”

9. Pre-publishing tasks — book blurb, book price, formatting

Since you will be self-publishing your book, you will have to learn to do several pre-publishing tasks such as writing the book blurb (description), setting the price of the book, formatting for eBook and print version, selecting the categories under which to publish your book, and adding good keywords, so that your book appears in the reader searches.

10. Publish

There is a fair deal of learning in self-publishing. Much of it will happen while you are publishing the book. Although there are independent companies available who can help you with the process with a handsome fee, I would say do it yourself. You can learn while doing it, and once you have learned it, the knowledge will come in handy with other books.

11. Marketing

There is a lot to learn in this area, but luckily there is a lot of information. 

You don’t have to worry about it until you have written your book and are ready to publish it. 

I would go to the length of saying, don’t worry about marketing your first book. Let it be a trial to learn the process of writing and publishing. Once you have done that and have all that knowledge, developing a proper marketing plan for your next book will be much easier.

12. Start Again

There you are. Your book is complete. Now start another.

In nutshell

Writing a book will change you forever. Even if nobody buys your book, the confidence you will gain from writing your first book will be worth all the trouble you went through.

Do you know what is the biggest secret  of authorpreneurship?

The only thing standing between you and your authorpreneur career is your first book.

As more and more writers are moving to write online, the habit of journal writing is dying. Yet journals are the breeding grounds of ideas, insights, and creativity.

I started journal writing more than twenty years ago, after reading Julia Cameron’s legendary book The Artist’s Way. In the book, Julia Cameron suggests writing morning pages. 

The morning pages are three pages of a daily longhand stream of consciousness written first thing upon arising. 

Almost every part of the instructions is non-negotiable.

• You got to write daily.
• You got to write by hand. There is something about writing with hands that opens the dark vaults of your mind and brings out all that is troubling you.
• You got to write first thing in the morning. You can make a cup of tea or coffee if you can’t function without it, but that’s about it. Don’t try to put away the dishes or make the bed. You got to start writing while your mind is still in an alpha state.

Of all the writing advice in the world, morning pages are the most successful tool for writers. Yet, most writers are not aware of them.

And if they are, they don’t follow the advice.

I have been writing morning pages for twenty years now. That single habit has made me a better writer than anything else. The pages clarify my thinking. They are not real writing because I am not writing drafting an article or working on a story but writing whatever comes to my mind.

They are basically ramblings. But hidden between the unless thoughts, to-do lists, and daily frustrations are deeper thoughts and impulses that form the material for my writing later in the day.

From time to time, I introduce little questions in my morning pages, making me go deeper to dig out the answers. Here are twenty questions if you want to bring some structure to your morning pages:

1. What excited me yesterday? What made me feel alive?

2. What drained my energy? How am I going to handle it next time?

3. What did I learn yesterday?

4. Did I observe something different yesterday? A person, an event, a dialogue?

5. What did I learn about myself yesterday?

6. What went well?

7. What didn’t go well? 

8. How did I cope with it?

9. What will I do differently next time?

10. What did I read yesterday? What did I learn from it?

11. What makes me angry?

12. What makes me happy?

13. Am I going on the right path? Is there anything I need to change?

14. Did I achieve everything I set out to do yesterday?

15. Am I being too hard on myself?

16. What 3 things are I grateful for?

17. If I am to write a love note to my (spouse/child/friend/enemy), what will I say to them?

18. What are my secrets? Why am I so afraid to share them?

19. What is blocking my creativity?

20. What is my inner critic telling me now?

Morning pages make us intimate with ourselves, and in turn, we become more compassionate with others. 

We become more comfortable in our own skin and can withstand other people’s scrutiny. Our relationships improve. 

Our expression improve. We learn to voice our feelings and thoughts. We unblock our creativity.

I would love to hear whether you write morning pages as well. If you do what has been your experience?

Photo by Ana Tavares on Unsplash

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote profound words in one of his journals that are not as well known as his other quotes but have the power to jolt every beginner who has aspirations to become a writer.

He wrote:

“Meek young men grow up in libraries believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote those books.” 

What he is saying is profound on two levels. On one level, he is encouraging us to go to the library and read the works of great men. Then on the other level, he is whipping us to take their word as gospel. 

An avid reader himself, Emerson read a lot. But more importantly, he questioned a lot. He was a ferocious reader. He was known to take long walks and write everything felt, observed, and inferred during his walks. 

But what is less known about him was that Emerson enrolled himself to study divinity at age twenty-one. Graduate study in divinity in1824 meant almost entirely Bible study.

Emerson was intrigued him was the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Proverbs is not gospel, and it is not a great narrative like Genesis. It is a minor book. 

Emerson wanted to write a book like the book of Proverbs. Not to annotate but to write his own scripture. He wanted to write one of those books that collect and embody the wisdom of their times. Emerson looked on Solomon as a fellow writer, someone to be imitated, not just venerated.

Almost thirty years later, in the last paragraph of his final essay in his 1850 book Representative Men he wrote, “We too must write Bibles.”

Books have that kind of power.

Recently I came across Robert D. Richardson’s masterpiece, First We Read, Then we Write. Richardson wanted to write William James’ biography, but he realized he didn’t have enough intellectual firepower to tackle William James, so he decided to write biographies of Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson first.

It took Richardson ten years to write three biographies.

His method was to read everything his subjects had read, in the sequence in which they read it, tracing their intellectual development.

Better readers become better writers.

Reading helps develop critical thinking. You shouldn’t just read for pleasure but also to broaden your horizons. 

Read books rather than just articles. Read books outside your genre. Old books which have withheld the test of time are better than new bestsellers, which come and go. 

Reading will inspire new ideas. By making reading a part of your routine, you can continually expose yourself to new ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Read like a writer. The art of reading like a writer doesn’t come instantly. You need to work at it. Read with a pen and notebook. Underline what intrigues you. Whenever you come across a new idea, stop, make a note, either in your notebook or on the side of the book itself, so that you can transfer it to your notes-taking system later.

Reading exposes you to a variety of writing styles. 

Writers are shaped by other writers. 

The books we read and the writers we follow influence us and impact our writing style. The writers who shape us are almost like unofficial mentors. 

By reading widely and closely, voracious readers can learn at the feet of the English languge’s most talented writers.

Reading in different various genres exposes you to different styles of writing. Learn how you can incorporate them into your writing. For example, many non-fiction books borrow fiction techniques of storytelling. They have a hero’s journey and narrative structure and dialogues, which make them an interesting read. 

Similarly, reading literature can help you write better scientific books. Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind has literary tones.

Reading allows you to study grammar in context. 

Ever tried to read a grammar book? It is boring.

But read a well-written and well-edited book, and you will get lessons in grammar that are easy to learn and joy to watch in action.

Think of reading a novel or short story as a hack that lets you study grammar without having to work through a textbook. 

Good books clearly communicate their messages, and to clearly communicate, you must have a good knowledge of grammar. 

When reading books, pay attention to the grammar, notice how professional authors use punctuation, sentence structure, active and passive voice, action verbs, and basically tackle any grammar questions you are struggling to understand.

Reading helps you expand your vocabulary. 

While reading, build our vocabulary. Whenever you come across a new word, jot it down, check its meaning and try to use it in your writing the same day. You will never forget it that way.

According to lexicographer and dictionary expert Susie Dent, “an average person’s active vocabulary is around 20,000 words, whereas a writer’s vocabulary is expected to be 30,000. Shakespeare used 31,534 different words in his works. 

Read voraciously and read with purpose. Recognize what other authors do best and learn from them. All you have to do is study their work.

Stephen King famously said:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write. Simple as that.”