write a book

I failed to complete NaNoWriMo, but I did learn a couple of things in my dismal attempt. I can’t write more than about 2,000 words at a time before I feel like I’m flagging. Stephen King, apparently, writes 10 pages a day every day (even on holiday), but I’m not sure I can match that. There was another author I read about, who was the other extreme – he’d be pleased if he’d written 3 sentences in a day!

So, I think somewhere in between is more where I’m at. I do feel that the writer’s block has been chipped away at in partaking in NaNoWriMo, so hopefully this will help me get started on this goal properly.

Firstly though, I plan on writing some shorter stories and taking part in competitions or publishing them on Fictionpress and my own website :)

I decided to set this as a challenge because I really need a kick up the ass to get this one off the ground – I used to write loads when I was still at school, then it fizzled out and I’ve not written anything since.

Now, I just worry too much about the quality of what I’m going to write instead of just getting words on a page, and doing the editing process afterwards. So, I’ve given myself a year to overcome this paralysis and just write the damned thing!

I would like to write a book for the commercial market, but I wouldn’t give up my day job, as the saying goes. I’m not sure how wide a market you can reach by publishing fiction on your own website, so it’s freely available. Although it’s nice to be able to be paid for your work, I am also a big supporter of Creative Commons and think that it is a good thing to make work more freely available to people, without restriction. I think I will look into this more.

Much as I would like to write a book one day, I don’t think that it’s ever going to be something I want to do professionally. I haven’t done a lot of creative writing recently and I think that’s because I’m wanting to jump in with this and create something good first time round.

I should just get writing and see how I do – take criticism from others so I can improve and then do this goal when I’m ready. I’ll probably start off by publishing on Fictionpress so that I can get feedback, even if I can’t make a living on it.

I have always wanted to write a book, which makes me about the squillionth person in the history of the world who wishes to do so. I have not yet decided what it will be about – I used to want to write fiction, but in recent years I have changed my mind on this and would like to write a reference book – possibly on spirituality or religion. I often feel that I’m not really qualified to write a reference book though, so perhaps I will end up writing a fiction.

I have been around in circles on this and may not decide for some time yet – when I was looking for a picture relating to writing books, I found the picture above which has nothing to do with this goal, but then seemed fitting because it didn’t :) I’m random like that :)