Have you ever said, “I should write a book?” If you said, “yes,” you are not alone. According to Studyfinds.org, a site that summarizes the results of high-interest research studies for the general population, “[m]ore than half of Americans think they’ve got a good idea for a novel in them, but most have never attempted to write one.”
A wise woman once told me everyone has a book inside of them. She explained, the key to getting that book out into the world is to start writing. Just one word a day and you are on your way. Sounds too easy to be true? Not really. Three years after receiving these pearls of wisdom, that same wise woman published my debut novel, The Other Twin.
Like many of you, I had the goal of writing a book on my bucket list. (Perhaps yours is in your dream book or on your vision board.) Before I did it, accomplishing that feat seemed way too hard. Not to mention, in my mind, I was not a creative person. And I had a whole career as a trial attorney that exhausted all my intellectual gifts and talents. John Grisham was the only lawyer I knew of who was making money as a writer. As good as I believed I could be, I was no John Grisham.
But when I really thought about it, I had been imagining stories in my head since I was a young child. In my playtime, I would conjure up amazing scenes and act them out with my barbie dolls and imaginary friends. Even as a trial lawyer, developing a better story than my opponent was my supreme goal, because that was how I won cases.
One day, I finally unleashed my inner storyteller and wrote a book. Actually, it took over a thousand days. The point is, I did it. It happened after receiving a directive from my then-teenage daughter who was developing her own creative writing portfolio at the time. I would get annoyingly involved in her work. She finally said, “you need to write your own book.” We both laughed and moved on, but she had ignited a spark inside of me that smoldered for over two years.
In January 2016, my city was hit with a crippling blizzard. I was snow-bound for almost a week. I did all the things one does when confined indoors – eat, binge-watch TV (until the storm knocks out cable service), bake, reorganize closets, and read books. One of the books I read was “Year of Yes,” by Shonda Rhimes. Shonda’s story amused and empowered me so much that, as soon as I finished her book, I said “yes” and started writing my own.
Bear in mind, not only did I not have a clue about how to write a book, but I had also not selected a topic or even a genre. That meant, to the chagrin of my past writing teachers and thesis advisers, I had no outline. That would be considered blasphemy in my English composition class. Luckily for me, what I did have was an active imagination and a plethora of characters in my head vying for a leading role.
After staring at my computer screen for several minutes, the character that emerged victorious was Ebony. For hours, Ebony told me who she was as I typed the words she gave me. I would type from morning to night, and sometimes from night to sunrise as Ebony’s story unfolded. A creative power had been unleashed and would not let me go. In those moments, I realized I had rediscovered my passion and became consumed with telling Ebony’s story. The smoldering spark was fully ablaze.
Ebony’s “story” went through major edits before becoming “The Other Twin.” In that process, I learned so much about what I had done wrong and how much easier the process would have been if I had only known even a few rules of creative writing. On the other hand, having that knowledge easily could have stifled the imaginative process and all those characters might still be in my head living their best lives.
I have no regrets that I stumbled through writing my first book. As someone who has worked for decades in a rules-dominant profession, this ‘coloring outside the lines’ experience was truly liberating and allowed me to fully express a side of me I had forgotten existed. Now that it’s free, there’s no turning back because now I am a published author. And a storyteller. And still a lawyer.
So, you think you can write a book? Get started by getting started. One word a day and you’re on your way.
Drop a note in the comments below and tell me about the book you’re imagining writing?