Misconceptions about writing a book

A lot of people don't understand how hard it can be to write a book. when you talk about having a job as a writer/author people think it is so easy and when you try and explain to people how difficult it actually is people don't really understand so this blog post is here to educate people so that they can see how hard it can be. this isn't a full list of everything but this is just a just a look into two of the biggest things I have found people don't understand.

One of the major misconceptions I hear about is how fast it takes to write a book and get published and I think this comes from how many established authors there are with their turn around rate like Stephen King.

This definitely isn't true especially for new writers trying to get published, as an example I started writing Wrongful Love around the 24th of February 2019 and I wasn't able to publish until November 17th 2020 that's about a year and nine months between when i wrote the first ever word to when I self published the novella. this is still considered fast to some authors. I have heard of authors  still working on there first novel ten years later. There is no perfect time frame to write a book and that's okay and normal.

Another example is i started writing project hyrid in July 2019 and i am still working on it now in march 2021  which just shows some books take longer then others because each writer and book is different and works in different time frames.

Another misconception is about how easy it is to write but there is so much that goes into a book its not as easy as sitting down and writing and then publishing, you have to make sure it flows, no plotholes, make sure everything is perfect, no mistakes. 

When you start writing it is also hard to get going at times because of blocks in your brain that stop you being able to think of where to go next and other times its hard to  work out what is wrong with your work, you can sit staring at the same sentence wondering whats wrong with it and nothing is clicking in your brain saying this is how you fix it.

If you are a writer what would like you the general public to know?

Writing Sprints

Writing sprints are very useful things to do as a writer but when you don't know what they are you can get quite confused on how to do them so I am here to help.

First, let's talk about what a writing sprint is.

A writing sprint or a word sprint is when you have to sit down for a length of time and write as much as you can in that time without stopping. you then take a five-minute break and do it again. the sprints can be for any length of time but most writers pick somewhere between five minutes and half an hour.

The benefit of writing sprints varies from increasing how many words you can write, getting your story done faster and more.

you can do word sprints on anything. there are websites like mywriteclub where you can do your sprints with friends or by yourself that will time you or you can set up a timer on your phone. during NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo you can do writing sprints on twitter. 

if you search up @NaNoWordSprints they hold word sprints every April, July and November. AuthorTubers also randomly hold live streams where word sprints are done so just do some research and you'll find the best way for you after some experimenting.

Rant about word counts and hate comments.

I am one of those writers where I love to celebrate different milestones with my followers. things like a higher word per minute total or doing a writing sprint and getting a higher word count, reaching a certain amount of words in my story or finishing it.

but with that comes the hate. it's quality over quantity. messages saying you won't make it and just trying to bring you down and stop you feeling good about your writing.

one of which inspired this blog post. I was asking questions for my book I am writing about endometriosis and someone slides upon the question and wrote a message telling me to get a real job and that I need to stop being happy about how many words I wrote because they will be all shit anyway.

these messages don't discourage me they make me work harder. I am not one to get down and think about what I'm doing wrong, well I am but when it comes to writing I can get all these feelings out on paper and turn it into something more, something amazing.

for the longest time, I took these messages as this is what I should be doing, by stoping every chapter, every page to rewrite and edit and do all the stuff I do now at the end of the book I stopped loving writing, it was no longer something I love but more of a chore. I got myself into writers' block badly, I left books unfinished because I just couldn't make it perfect and now I fix it at the end. my first draft is getting the story down no matter how good or bad it will be and then going through and fixing it, putting it away for three months and coming back with a clear mind, no longer having my head tell me everything that needs to be done still.

on the getting a 'real' job front it's very complicated, I hate to drop out of high school because of endometriosis and any boss says that I would be unreliable and can't have a job there so I made my writing my job. I have a fiver where I offer to ghostwrite and beta read, write blog posts and even proofread and edit things. I also do freelance gigs, working in a normal 9 to 5 job is impossible for me so I had to find a way to make a job out of something I love and can do and that is writing, that is youtube and that is my business.  whats to say that I am no good at writing and cant to make it a career? I am about to query one of my books to publishing houses and I'm excited for how far I have come in this world of writing.

what I'm getting at is that people are going to hate no matter what and what works for you is what matters not what people think you should be doing, keep your head high and push through it, find a way that works for you and stick to it and the first draft is never going to be perfect no matter how hard you try that's what editing and proofreading are for.