There’s one very big difference between someone who has written a book, and someone who hasn’t.
The one who has? ACTUALLY WROTE ONE.
(I know. It’s obvious. Just bear with me.)
And I know that there are nuances in there – sometimes it’s HARD, and sometimes life gets in the way (ask me how I know!!). But the fact remains: if you want to write a book, you have to actually write one!
The main factor I see with clients – both for editing and for writing coaching – is that the people who succeed with writing their books are interested in them.
If you’re interested enough, and want it enough, it’ll get done.
So I want you to tell me:
Are you interested enough in your book idea to actually write it?
Does thinking about it keep you up at night?
Do you do outlandish things to get time to write it?
(Do you get up at o’God o’clock to pound the keyboard? Stay up late into the stillness of the night and not notice? Creep away when everyone’s watching TV to just get five minutes more with it?)
Or are you sitting on an idea that’s lukewarm, trying to warm it up with body heat so you can pretend it’s alive?
Does it fill you with dread and heaviness?
Are you boring yourself?
Let me tell you: it’s much easier to write a book that burns.
If your idea is like a magnet – you’re drawn to it by forces you can’t see, and once you’re there, you have to be pulled away? – then you’re on the right track.
If your idea needs you to be frogmarched to your desk, forcibly sat down and threatened to write… then you might want to reconsider.
It’s lovely that as a writing coach, I usually get clients who are REALLY INTO their books. They have written and written and tend to hire me when they flounder slightly on their way to finishing, or are so immersed in their project that they can’t see the shape of it anymore, and need a guide.
These are motivated writers; they are excited, and know that they can and will do the work.
But occasionally there’s someone who thinks that hiring a writing coach is going to make them sit down and write. They think I can somehow fit a motivational chip into their ear and they’ll wake up next morning with a fire in their belly for writing.
And some of them do – paying a coach can do this for you, it’s true.
But most of them don’t.
I used to think that this was because I was a crap coach.
But I’ve now worked with enough writers to know that people who lack motivation are one of a few things:
They’re not in love with their idea.
They’re boring themselves.
They aren’t ready to write their book.
They aren’t ready to commit to the page, their muse, their reader.
They want someone else to do it for them.
They also might be unsupported, or might not have enough accountability set up – I know that I need about seven contact points for accountability in any one week for me to write every day, even though I love what I’m writing.
But that’s a topic for another day.
What I want you to take from today is not that I’m a writing coach and can work with you.
I want you to take a question.
Do you REALLY want to write your book?
Because if the answer’s anything below a resounding, 10/10 “YES!” then it’s like any other creative endeavour:
If you’re not all-in, go home.
If you’d like to join a group for writers who are actually writing, rather than sitting about moaning about writing, the Book.Write.Now. Facebook group might be just the thing for you. Join, and welcome.
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