Have You Ever Wanted to Write a Book?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, ever since my high school English essays came back with comments such as, “Well-written,” “Fabulous job!” or something similar.  I had various story ideas that I wanted to flesh out but that tiny voice in the back of my mind always discouraged me, saying that I’d never be successful so I shouldn’t even bother trying.  I poked around a bit, writing little snippets here and there but never really wrote much in terms of a sequential story.  

Then the most amazing accident of my life happened.  I stumbled upon a website by the name of NaNoWriMo, created by Chris Baty.  In short, it’s a month-long challenge to write a 50,000 word novel.  Sounds crazy, right?  I thought so.  I figured I had nothing left to lose though, so I signed up and on November 1, I started the adventure of writing that novel.  Let me tell you, it’s not easy to write 1,667 words a day when there’s school, orchestra rehearsals, Thanksgiving trips and hospital visits but something about the commitment to write a book in such a short amount of time seemed so tantalizing that even in the darkest times of Week Three when I was 10,000 words behind, I kept trucking along.  

At 11:45pm November 30, I became the proud owner of a manuscript to which I’d spend the next six months finishing. because who wants to stop at only 50,000 words, right?  And then another marvelous accident happened.  I couldn’t fit all the content for my story into one book.  It turned into a 12-book series.  If my idea is as successful as I want it to be, I have the potential to spend the rest of my life writing a series I absolutely love and actually get paid to do so.  I’ve often wondered if that’s how J.K. Rowling felt when she started writing Harry Potter.  

And the one thing about this whole life-changing turn of events is sure.  If it could happen to me, why couldn’t it happen to you?  So if you’ve always wanted to write a book, try doing NaNoWriMo.  Try writing a book in one month.  Throw caution to the wind.  Be fearless in the face of writing a first draft.  

Happy writing!