The day after I finished my novel two weeks ago, I started a new book, a book on writing.
As of this morning, book #4 is finished and I’ve just written the specs to send to the cover designer. I’m looking at launching as early as next month.
So, what happened?
Why did I write two books in fourteen years, and then finish another two in the last month?
Two things.
One, I got really bored of the voice in my own head telling me how much it wanted to write books. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is write books,” I’ve whined to my husband so many times now that it’s not even something that needs saying. We both understand why this isn’t the primary option for me at the moment, since my contribution to the household finances is pretty important as we navigate career options for both of us. But, at the same time, as I have often pointed out, it doesn’t take writing eight hours a day to put together a book manuscript. If you write 500 words a day every weekday, take the weekends off to recuperate, and consistently do this, you will have a 60,000-word book in 6 months. It takes me about half an hour to write 500 words. If I were to double that and devote a whole hour a day to my book writing, I’d be able to finish one in 3 months.
So, once I knew that, as you now do, saying “Oh, I don’t have the time,” or “I need to focus on making money,” or any of those regular excuses we fall back on repeatedly, just didn’t seem strong enough anymore.
Did I want to write a book or did I not? If I truly did not have space in my life for a novel—as was the case in the last year—then I had to stop beating myself up about it and move on with my life, vowing to return when that space had been created.
But if I did have the time and the space of one hour a day, then I needed to quit with the excuses and get on with it.
I quit with the excuses and got on with it.
Two, I got help.
At some point in your life and career, you have to understand the difference between simply making excuses and true resistance that comes from a source you don’t quite understand.
I have been starting (and sometimes almost finishing) books for the last decade. I write in fits and starts, I have finished manuscript drafts that I’ve never returned to, and my computer is full of good, saleable book ideas that I think would attract agents and publishers. Yet, despite that fact coupled with my constantly saying that I would like nothing more than to write books for a living, I don’t write books for a living.
I’ve blamed this on time. I’ve blamed this on money. I’ve blamed this on my own incapability.
This year, though, I got tired of fighting with myself and decided to sign up for coaching instead. Suddenly, with the help of someone who has not only written books, but also helped authors and artists get their books written, I’m free. My coach was able to pick up on and voice issues (minor issues, but issues nonetheless) that I would not have even thought were a problem. I took his advice, addressed them, and here I am, a month later with two finished manuscripts.
Sometimes, all we need is an outsider, someone who is not caught up in all our stuff, to look to our lives, our work, and our dreams and say, “Oh, you keep doing B, but what you really should be doing is A and you’ll start seeing some results.” And if you’re smart enough to put aside your doubts and just do what this professional tells you, you start seeing results.
I’m finding this with my own freelance coaching clients as well. I’m getting to know my clients pretty well at this point and very quickly, I’m able to pinpoint pretty much exactly what they need to change to start seeing different results. Already, in two weeks, some of them have taken my advice and had their own aha moments.
This happens because when we’re so entrenched in our own problems, our own lives, we lose sight of even the most obvious solutions. It’s why so many writers find success after doing my courses. It’s not that writers don’t know that more queries will bring more assignments or that you need to send good LOIs to get content marketing assignments, it’s because the technique, the accountability, and the push, all come together to light up the path. Someone else can recognize your blind spots because you almost never can.
If you want to write books, write books. If you want to send queries, send queries. If you want to make money, you can make money.
But first, you have to decide that you’re going to do it. If you really want something, you can make it happen.
So the real question then is, do you really want it? How much?
What are you willing to do to make it happen?