Once I decided to write a novel, the daunting task overwhelmed me. Steven King shared his secret to being an author in his book On Writing—put your butt in the chair and write. I’m no King. My rear was in the chair, but the words never made it on the page. My doubts about writing the story, mixed with my lack of confidence in my capacity to create something engaging, formed a potent cocktail of paralysis.
I found a course entitled Write Your First Novel that provided a clear step-by-step blueprint to completing a book in twenty-six weeks.
The professor’s instructions were straightforward and almost too simplistic. He boiled the structure down to three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the end. Plot involved determining a dramatic question that engaged readers and kept them turning pages until the end of the book. The only nod to writing quality was editing based on feedback from classmates.
This program’s simplicity helped me take the first steps and avoid being one of the 98% who never finish their first draft. The power of the course was it gave me the courage to write and nurtured a burgeoning writing habit.
Engagement was high in the first weeks. Several people shared with me their own experiences with mental illness. Feedback I received stressed the importance of raising awareness about the topic and the significance of my work. Their words reminded me why I was compelled to tell the story and fueled my motivation.
I was determined to accomplish the course target of five-hundred words each weekday. Writing was slow and painful many days, but I pushed forward, unwilling to give up. Like climbing a mountain, my progress was visible and grew as the little steps I took added up to something that had once seemed insurmountable.
After six weeks, I completed the beginning or first act. When I looked over my pages, they were far from the level of Steven King, yet I saw a noticeable improvement in my writing quality. Still, doubts remained. What if I wasn’t doing justice to the complexities of the topic? How could I tell if my work was good enough?
Because of the high dropout rate for the class, few participants remained to provide helpful feedback or to quell my reservations. The course was a good beginning, but too limited for me to accomplish my goal. I continued writing, but dropped out and searched for a more reliable guide for completing my journey.
What I didn’t know was the next step required me to take a bold leap.
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