As of midnight, Pacific Standard Time today, I’m a published author. I realize this fact and $5 can buy you an overpriced latte. Anyone can do anything, though somethings come easier to everyone. In hindsight, I wish I’d done this twenty years ago. It’s almost exponential how much easier writing gets after the first book. I’ll let the gentle reader opine on quality. Quantity wise, I’ve written 80% of the sequel to The Eagle Feather in about 20 days (Yes, it’s been home office, and Corona Lockdown since November here.)
In contrast, I’m told I’ve been a voracious reader since age 2. I always enjoyed writing. Every job I’ve had, they ended up having me write all the monthly client letters. I wanted to be published author as a life goal, so many stories to tell. Though in 40 plus years, I never had the discipline to stick to it, and have at least four partially written books lying around gathering dust.
It’s not my profession, but in part due to forced lockdowns, it’s evolved into a cathartic hobby. It’s now at times, a flow like state, like the simple beauty of some colorful fall leaves around a grand old tree. I’m relaxed and two hours has flown by.
A few writing related tips that help me.
1) Leave in the middle- I read this tip somewhere, and it seems to work. I force myself to stop writing every day with an unfinished paragraph, or train of thought. This notion of unfinished business, undoubtedly bugs me, and compels me back to write the next day.
2) Edit Out Loud with Paper- It’s really hard to self-edit on a screen. I did four careful rereads of the first book, and still missed typos, etc. Then I went old school and printed out the pages and read them out loud with a yellow highlighter. I found more typos, and tuned up the writing better and faster than the four screen-based reads combined.
3) Coffee Tonic- This probably means less to people who aren’t addicted to coffee, but I rediscovered the coffee tonic. I’d first tried one years ago on Polk Street, back home on Russian Hill, but forgot how much I like it. It’s just an espresso shot with ice cubes and tonic water. It’s one of those things that just works, it tastes much better than it sounds. Cold coffee drinks are a proven writing aid.
Finally, I wrote my first book for my son to have someday when he’s older. It’s a young adult novel, but draws heavily from things his grandfather taught me. I was able to reconnect with some old friends who had teens and young adult children. Their feedback was some of the themes in the book would be good for their teens to read. This gave me a completely unexpected sense of fulfillment.
All of this helped me.