I'm Writing a Book

I’m writing a book! More specifically, a novel. And I want to document the process here for a couple of reasons. 

Firstly, I want this to be your sign to go and do the thing. Secondly, to keep myself accountable. And third, I think that showing your work can be a fantastic and beneficial part of the creative process. 

And one more reason. I want to explore a cool concept known as narrative therapy as a way to plan my life and bring my aspirations into fruition. I want to document it because I think it will be an interesting experiment.

I’m not an expert but narrative therapy is a method therapists sometimes use in which they have the patient write out their current situation in the third person. When they write their lives out like a story, it helps to give perspective and for them to recognize their pitfalls and explore their options. 

Then, the writer can continue to describe how their protagonist (themself) can move forward and how they’d like future events to transpire.

I’m going to adapt this for my own use and basically write out how I’d like the next one to five years to transpire: I take my time writing my story, have it made into a novel, and then adapt it into a screenplay. Check back here to see if it happens. Isn’t that fun? 

Why do I want to write a book? Because there is a story I want to tell. I’ve been thinking about a book I’ve been wanting to write for the past year or so, and I threw it into my long, long-term goals. I was thinking maybe in the next ten or so years, once I’ve lived a little more and had more to write about. 

It’s kind of like, if you’ll remember, my distant lofty goal of running a marathon once in my life. Or, like my distant lofty goal of moving to Hollywood. Since I started journaling and blogging, and thus making a commitment to myself and establishing some social accountability, both of those things ended up happening pretty swiftly. So why not give this one a go, and see what happens. 

I was inspired in part by a productivity youtuber I used to follow named Ali Abdaal. Before I ever thought about writing anything, I really liked the way that Ali made himself accountable by changing his internet bio to “Future Author” while he was writing his first book. He talked about the writing process in all of his youtube videos right from the earliest stages. I had no doubt then that he would indeed publish that book. 

And, unsurprisingly, Ali Abdaal has published his book. 

Today I came across a blog post by Joanna Penn where she documented the entire journey of coming out with her first novel. She started it during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and had it published in a little over a year. Going from o-1 novels in a year, I think, is fabulous. And since then she’s come out with an entire series.

I just find it so lovely when we get a glimpse into the creative process like this, rather than learning about it once the hard and dirty work is over. I’ll do my best to describe my experience and I’ll keep this post up to date with my progress, so check back if you want to see how it’s going.

And please, if you feel so inclined, engage in the comments with your thoughts. I’d love to talk about it. I’m looking to join a first time writers group, too, so let me know if you have suggestions. 

To be clear, I know that writing is a real professional job, and as an avid reader, I appreciate writers and the years and work that they put into their craft. Good writing is divine, and not something that I am expecting to accomplish on a whim. But, I do believe that if I take my time, I can share a compelling story that at least resonates with, maybe, a handful of people. That’s my goal. 

Books: On Writing, Show Your Work, The Artist’s Way

My Writing Journal:

May 2023

I attend a friend’s movie premiere, which was, no shade, written in 8 days, filmed in 8 days, and had a budget of $100,000. This is one of the first movies he created and since then he’s produced about 10 more that have been doubling in size, scope, and production value each time. As they say, “writers write.” You just have to do it. 

Also in May 2023

Ironically, this is the beginning of the historical 2023 WGA Writers Strike. And, since I work as a makeup artist in the film and television industry, I am officially unemployed. I use the time to start writing and to study everything about writing that I can get my hands on. But, as the days stretch on it gets a little bit too stressful. 

September 2023 The writers strike has gone on for what seems like eternity and there is no end in sight. It seems it is just a part of life now. I’ve come to terms with it, found a way to segue into other work opportunities as a makeup artist, and I feel better about using my free time to write again. I start my novel fresh.

~*~ The rest is still unwritten... ~*~