Getting Started

Nobody said that getting started was easy and I wasn’t expecting it to be a cakewalk. However, it is a little harder than I expected. There are mountain peak highs and then ages of lull. In August 2011, I wrote on a piece of paper “I am going to write my novel and get it published,” as suggested by @WritersDigest. And I started writing. I came up with a rough map of the route my book would take; beginning and end were vague, but present (in my mind). I drafted a couple of chapters and fell into the ‘my-main-characters’-names-suck’ trap. I am still there. So from whizzing through about 5000 words to nothing. Zilch.

I am sure writing during the Jane Austin era was easier, perhaps getting published harder. You take a pen and you write – simple. Today, at least for me, the choices are killing. Should I type or should I write, let me get my blog and twitter in place first, I have won a booker and am autographing books in my head before I even know the names of my characters. In my defence, Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) imaged getting an Oscar when she was about 12. But you see, there are so many distractions – a manicure before typing? Perhaps a burst of colour will inspire me. I once read that ‘fame’ was taking over the idea of ‘going to heaven.’ So true, and it hampers your inner instinct and that raw energy that just wants to write.

The truth is, it is scary. While I do think I am a half-decent writer and everyone has a story to tell and it is a skill you can work on, writing allows you see yourself butt-naked. No matter how slim and hot people may think you are, or no matter how confident you are, you always find something you need to work on. Something that you would want to change. Something that tells you, you are only human.

Now that I have all the frills of twitter, blogging and the manicure out of the way, I am hoping to get back to some serious writing. This blog will keep you posted on my progress and pitfalls. In the meantime, what do you think of revealing a book title before even writing the book? Dangerous or perhaps a form of copyright and branding?