How to Write a Book-- Part One

Part I - 8 Simple Steps
Do you have a book in you waiting to materialize?
Or a partially finished project that has been shoved to the back burner?
I hope these simple steps will wake a dormant desire within you and fertilize the writing field so the words sprout like daffodils—but all year ‘round. 
So little, I ask.

Why do I care?  Writing has changed who I am.  I like the me who writes.  It gives clarity and is a way to be artistic— which I believe, feeds the spirit. I am not the proselytizing type.  I don’t think everyone should write but everyone should create—maybe writing is your path.  For those of you with this latent desire, I dedicate this verbal vignette.

Step One: Make Coffee.

Get up in the morning and make a cup of coffee.  I prefer Starbucks Verona made with an air press. Then I load it up with that creamy liquid, full fat original Coffeemate. I know it is an unnatural blend of whatnot and has no nutritional value but it transforms the taste into a creamy elixir.  I would prefer a boatload of real cream but dairy doesn’t agree with me.

Step Two: Pick a Writing Spot.

Mine is a south facing room in the upstairs corner of our house.  I sit in a chair with a foot rest because it is the perfect height for my laptop; positioned so that when I take pause I can gaze out the window at the leaves flitting about the tree tops or watch their shadows dance on the couch.

Last year, some lame doctor—obviously NOT Dr. Kiona MD—told me I should get out of the chair and sit at a desk with my back straight, but she was the same one who told me not to bother with yoga because it wasn’t doing me any good. I didn’t take her advice. I love being comfortable and I love yoga.  This chair fits like a glove.  I call it my astronaut chair because it looks like one and sends me to places never traveled before. Sometimes I sit at my desk for a change of pace, but my favorite is the chair.

Stephen King says you don’t need any of these accouterments but just a writing utensil, a chair with a back, a table with four legs, the less distracting the better.  I once read that he writes with his face to a wall with no windows and a simple light overhead.  You don’t need to look out a window, he says, it’s all right there in your mind. He wrote one of my favorite books on writing. It is called, ironically enough, On Writing.

Wally Lamb’s writing spot is graced with abundant windows facing the Connecticut woods where deer and other woodland creatures skit about. His wife gave him a wall hanging water fountain that emits a soft splashing sound. Filled with book shelves, meaningful pictures, and a separate desk for the writing class he teaches; his space is dreamy. Click HERE to see Wally Lamb's video on his writing spot.

Natalie Goldberg likes to write in coffee shops.  I like this too, once in a while.  I think it is the change in scenery that freshens the mind and inspires a slant on words. The bustle seems to help me take myself less seriously.

My Astronaut Chair

—Last week I was at the cabin and couldn’t quite duplicate the astronaut chair so I moved around like a dog in circles bedding down for the night.  I was on the loveseat and added a pillow behind my back, then, a pillow under my legs, then a new footrest; like Goldilocks—too soft. I moved to the rocker —too unstable. Then back to the couch.  Maybe I need more light— moved the couch closer to the glass so the sun could soak my body—turned on the overhead light — it added warmth. Finally I played some Benedictine Monk chant music and began spitting words on the page.

Creating the perfect writing spot can be a ritual—readying the mind for creativity— or maybe just a special form of procrastination.

Step Three: Break through the Resistance With Scheduled Writing Time

I believe that picking a writing time and sticking to it, helps with this tendency to put off the important stuff. So, after I wake in the morning, I grab my coffee and get to writing.  If it is the first thing on my agenda, I have less chance of skipping the task and it gives the rest of the day an accomplished, serene feeling. I write as long as my to-do list allows, usually for one to four hours a day. If I skip a day, I find that I am already rusty and sometimes crabby.

Cheryl Strayed, who wrote the best selling memoir, Wild, has a different approach.  She does not have a routine but is more of a binge writer, gathering momentum in big spurts and then taking weeks or months away from writing.

 What is it that makes us put off writing? It is a real thing, psychologically tangible, this resistance —a thin membrane that sits between now and getting started; like cellophane that you crash through. Having a scheduled morning time for writing helps me poke a tear in the resistant film.

Steven Pressfield in War of Art calls this membrane Resistance, with a capital R. It the evil of all ailments, he says, and it occurs when you do not answer the inner call of your higher self —that part of your being that yearns to be expressed. Pressfield says, “Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize.  We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write a symphony.” Instead we say, “I am going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.”

This resistance barrier can come in the form of nagging thoughts like; all the other things you should be doing; the doubts about your writing ability as you wonder if you can cough up anything of consequence; that worry about finding the words to express what you have in your heart.

Pressfield says these thoughts are not you.  They are the embodiment of Resistance, which is a real thing apart from our selves—a natural force that exists between stretching from homeostasis to the act of creating. Resistance blocks the act of moving towards what your heart desires. When you can name it and identify it, you can move past it.

Roy Peter Clark, in Writing Tools, says, “Almost all writers procrastinate, so there’s a chance you do too.  Even among professionals, delay takes many forms. The film reviewer checks her emails for the 10th time. The novelist makes yet another trip to Starbucks, his fourth tall vanilla latte of the day. The famous scholar stares into space. So don’t feel down if you find it hard to get started on your project. “

He goes on to suggest that procrastination can be viewed as a type of writing rehearsal. “Put simply, productive authors write stories in their heads.”

So I deduce from Clark that procrastination is rehearsal and valuable as long as you finally perform in the main show.

David Young-amazing!

Step Four: Play Music

Next step, I power up my I-tunes playlist called Writing Mantra. It is populated with “healing-spa-chant-flute-churchy music”  like Ascension by Steven Halpern, Ave Maria by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Dream of Translucence by David Young.  David Young was kind enough to let me use his song in my book trailer. See it HERE. Most of my Writing Mantra songs are wordless because I find verbiage distracting, but since I am not fluent in Latin or Sanskrit, Tantum Ergo and Jai Ma work just fine. Sometimes if it is a windy day, I turn the music off so I can hear nature’s songs: i.e. leaves dancing on wind propellers.  Oh I love that sound.  It reminds me of a creek’s waterfall, which I also love.

Wally Lamb always plays music while writing and has used the words of songs for titles of his books.

Step Five: Start with Morning Pages.

“Creativity is like crab grass, it springs back with the simplest of care.” Julia Cameron

I prime the pump by writing a journal entry—a stream of consciousness piece that allows me to grease the finger joints and clear the mind. I often recap the day before by noting my trials and jubilations. I consider it a form of writing practice and of meditation. I put these documents in a folder on my computer called Thoughts and save them by the date.  I love looking back a year or two to see from whence I have come. Sometimes the themes are discouragingly mundane and rote, a clue that I haven’t changed much, but sometimes I take comfort in knowing that I have come a long way. Mostly I am the same old person except for a few pounds up or down.

I have been doing morning pages most days since the year 2000 after I read Julia Cameron’s book, The Artists Way.  Julia says, “There is no wrong way to do morning pages. They move us into artist brain. Artist brain says, ‘That is so neat! I put odd things together.’

What the morning pages do is clear your mind.  It’s like you take this little dust buster and you go poking it into all the corners of your consciousness and you put that on the page.  It should be called mourning pages because it is a farewell to life as you knew it and introduces you to life as its going to be. … It can be grumpy. Just write down what is crossing your consciousness. …Become acquainted with all the dark corners of your psyche…..When you put the negativity on the page it isn’t eddying through your consciousness during the day… a clearing exercise, allowing you to have more consciousness as you pass through your day.” Listen to Julia talk about morning pages HERE

After the journal entry which is about 700-1000 words, my coffee is half gone. Now, I open my current writing project and read the most recent portion. This starts the rhythm and triggers the next thoughts. Ah so sweet…tapping away.

Step Six: Stay on Track

Resistance can re-introduce itself with the temptation to check email, google something unrelated, add items to your to do list, or answer a phone call.  But don’t give in!  Just keep writing because this delegated time is sacred. If frittered, you might have a lousy day and feel gypped and unproductive. And, don’t stop to re-read or edit but move ahead because getting the words down is the first step to producing that book.

Again resistance may take the form of these thoughts, Who do I think I am?  I’m no writer! Or this is too hard, I don’t know where I am going or what to write next.  But if you can ignore your judging words and just write, then there is no question.  You are a writer. You will get better at it once you make it your daily practice.

One thousand words a day will give you a book in 60 days. Of course, there will be lots of revision and rewriting. Most good works have been rewritten many times.

Bond Lake Sunset from Camp Jackpine

Step Seven: Join a Writer’s Group and Read Out Loud.

The best thing I did for my writing was to discover the St. Croix Writers group of Solon Springs, Wisconsin.  The group is located about a ½ hour from the summer cabin and has been meeting for over 20 years. Each Tuesday at 9:30 we meet in the Community Center. As we enter, we grab a number from the stack of cards to determine reading order. We sit at a long table and start with number 1—if that card has been picked—but often readers will dig down in the stack so they don’t have to go first.  We are timed and read a writing selection for 6 minutes. Then writers offer comments which are almost always helpful and encouraging.

The Writer’s Group membership propelled me into productivity. When I knew I would be reading, I would work on my piece by rewriting, timing, and reading aloud to make it shine for the debut. When anyone said something positive about my writing, I was infused with zest and skipped on home anxious to get back to the keyboard. 

Reading out loud to a group helps your words come alive and can be very inspiring. As Brenda Ueland writes in her booklet, The Art of Listening: Tell Me More, “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. Think how the friends that really listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius as though it did us good, like ultraviolet rays. This is the reason: When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life. You know how if a person laughs at your jokes you become funnier and funnier, and if he does not, every tiny little joke in you weakens up and dies? Well, that is the principle of it.”

Step Eight: Keep On Keepin’ On.

Gene Fowler says, “Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”

There were several times when I didn’t know what to write next, or I had this horrible feeling that it was all too dark and who would want to read this stuff anyway, or else it seemed to be going nowhere fast.  I cringe when I remember a Loft class on book structure when one of my classmates said this about my book: “So what!  A lot of people get pregnant, what’s the big deal?” I came home from class crushed. I thought my story was so important! After I recovered, it forced me to ask the important questions. What is the book about?  Why am I writing it?

Welcome these hurdles. It is seasoning for the writer. If you learn to ride the waves of discouragement, you will find a way back up.  Take a break; read a good book, take a walk, meditate. I found the break gave me new perspective.  Or talk to a good listening, close friend until you find your own way through. 

Some days I thought my writing was genius and other days I thought it was junk.  This is part of the creative process.  Just keep at it.

Part II coming soon