10 Reasons you haven’t written your book yet (And why they are stupid.)

I'm going to post a few favourites of mine from my old Wordpress blog over the next few weeks, usually with some tweaking. Then come 2023 it should be basically all new stuff - aside from one that's kind of seasonal and needs to be posted around the start of February.

10 Reasons you haven’t written your book yet (And why they are stupid.)

(I was guilty of several of these in the past.)

1. I haven’t quite finished the research/outline yet.

Why it’s stupid: If your first save of the outline or some research notes for this project was onto a floppy disk, you just may be procrastinating.

2. I haven’t quite finished worldbuilding yet.

Why it’s stupid: The reader probably isn’t going to care about the life cycle of every made up bug biting your hero as he slogs through the Forbidden Swamp. If you spend more time building a wiki or database to hold facts about your story than you ever will writing the story you may have world builders disease. If you’re spending still more time to create a constructed language for every group of people in the story you may need to get over yourself and stop pretending to be Tolkien.

3. I fear that after I write the book I’ve had in my head for years I’ll never have another book idea again.

Why it’s stupid: There are one book wonders out there, but most people will find that once that first idea is FINALLY out of their brain and onto a page it will leave room for lots of new ideas.

4. I don’t have time.

Why it’s stupid: Newsflash – nobody has time to write. Nobody is sitting around looking for some project to fill up a load of spare time they somehow have in their day. Make time. Give up other things.

5. It might suck.

  

Why it’s stupid: So? Will the sky fall? Will the book police arrest you? If it sucks, that's what editing is for. If it still sucks after that, then you write something else and get better.

6. I need to read more books about how to write.

Why it’s stupid: Books about writing are great. I love reading about writing. But reading about writing without also doing any writing makes as much sense as reading about how to ice skate and expecting to do it perfectly on the first try. You only learn once you actually strap on those skates and start falling over. The best way to learn about writing is by writing.

7. I’ll never be as good as [insert other author name here].

Why it’s stupid: You don’t have to be. The quality range of published books is staggering. You’ll probably fit in somewhere.

8. My ideas are too dark/radical/shocking/unconventional for publication.

 

Why it’s stupid: They probably aren’t. Kids in school probably study books with more shocking ideas than you have. Get over yourself and just write it. If it’s dark/radical/shocking/unconventional and good, then somewhere out there is a market for it.

9. I’m too shy to show anyone anything I write.

Why it’s stupid: Actually, it’s not. It’s just the way some of us are. I’d cringe myself to death if I had to have someone sit and read something of mine in front of me. But it’s something we’ve got to get over. I’ve found that the answer is the Internet! (The Internet! The answer to and cause of all our problems.) Somehow people on the Internet aren’t quite as “real” as people you have to deal with face to face or even on the phone. That let me finally dare to start sharing work. 

10. I don’t really want to write, I only want to be able to call myself a writer.

Why it’s stupid: Do you need me to tell you this one?