HELLO DEAR FRIENDS! I am back in your ears with Episode 049 of the Write Now podcast, which showcases 10 lessons I learned while writing a book in one week. (That’s right: one week.)
Who you gonna call?
Some of you may know that I ghostwrite books in my spare time. This means I’m paid to write books (or blog posts, articles, memoirs, etc.) under someone else’s name so that they get the credit. This usually happens when the person is too busy to write, or perhaps an expert in their field but not a great writer.
Ghostwriting is fun and interesting for me, and I love doing it. So when someone asked me to take on a ghostwriting rush job with a deadline in one week, I said yes because I love a challenge and also I am insane.
Here are the 10 lessons I learned:
- Writing is work. Hard work, and often tedious.
- Writing takes time. And yes, time is a very real and very limiting factor.
- The very best thing you can do is put your butt in your seat and commit to writing.
- Know how to prevent burnout — and know what to do if and when you do get burned out.
- The most important thing you can do right now is get your first draft finished. You can always edit, polish, and research later.
- Do not overcommit yourself — there are only a certain number of working hours in a day, and you should not more take on more work than those hours permit you to complete.
- Outlines are amazing.
- Dread is cumulative — once you start writing, you realize that it’s not as daunting or scary as you thought it would be.
- Realizing, “Yeah, I can do this,” and gaining the confidence I needed to write my own stuff.
- Accountability in the form of a deadline can be invaluable.
What lessons have you learned in writing?
Share what you’ve learned in the comments below! I’d also love to hear about your current work in progress via my contact page, or in a comment below. 🙂
Do you enjoy the Write Now podcast?
Consider sharing my message or supporting my work! There are tons of different ways to get involved:
- Subscribe to my show on iTunes (or any other podcatcher app)!
- Become a patron on Patreon!
- Write a 5-star review of my show on iTunes, Stitcher, Spreaker, or any other podcatcher app!
- Tell a fellow writer, friend, or relative about the Write Now podcast!
Full Episode Transcript (click to expand!)
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Hi Sarah,
it’s a funny thing. I came to the same realization as you did in no. 7 about outlines just last week!
(Yes I am listening to old episodes, because I came across your podcast only recently)
Anyway, I always though myself a pantser. Because with outline it means, that you know how the story ends, and why would I want to write a story when I know how it ends? It takes out all the excitement! Or so I thought, because it did happen to me, that I lost interest in a story once I figured out the ending. Which probably just means it wasn’t a good story.
Then I stopped writing for some time (=years).
A few weeks ago an idea and a story came to me. And I did go through the full story in a few nights before bed. And then I started writing it, and I am still excited about it, even though I know how it probably will end. And I am still writing it, and I am not giving this one up. And the fact that I know where I am going helps me actually writing it!
And the other fact, that I really do not stop polishing it as well. I am a dialogue person, and I have there minimum to none descriptions, but the dialogue moves me forward, keeps me writing, so I don’t worry about that now. I can worry about that later I suppose.
The one thing about an outline is though, that you can always abandon it if you figure out a better/cooler/more awesome way to continue. But it is a good starting point, to keep you moving. Because for me – once I stop, it is always so hard to get back. Because it’s scary!
So yeah, sorry for the long post, but thank you for this awesome podcast!
And I am super curious what the book you wrote was! I would like to read it
Hi Alexandra! It is scary — but it’s worth it! And I’m so glad you’re writing again. Sadly, I ghostwrote the book for someone else so under our contract I can’t say what it was, but thank you for wanting to read it! I’m currently in the process of writing my own book that I’m excited for you to read one day. 🙂 Happy writing, and thank you for listening!!! -Sarah
Sarah, I wanted to say thank you for this pod cast. I was killing some time today and had your podcasts downloaded to my phone at the recommendation of an old friend David Faux. Episode 49 was perhaps the 3rd one I listened to today and listening to your story of writing a 48k word book in one week really struck a note with me. I never really thought of myself as a writer, I love coming up with the stories but never was willing to let others hear or see them. Then last year I caved to pressure from a few friends to write a technical manual. Now I had writing documentation I tend to just want to scream at the page that what I am writing about is so simple why do I have to explain it. Well fast forward 11 months now I have have written about 18,000 words on my subject and have not brought myself to just finish it. The “book” (quoted because I view it more as a pamphlet at this point) Is done except for perhaps a 100o words and a bunch of editing. Your story about that one week has inspired to pick it up again and just finish it off and perhaps to do my first set of revisions. So thank you for your podcast.
Kyra, thank you so much for your kind words! I am so excited that my show has spurred you to finish that project — all the best to you! (And tell David hi for me!) -Sarah
Another awesome podcast! I’ve learned from writing is just to get started and once I have that muscle exercised. It will become easier. I’ve started to look for ghostwriting jobs but I really resonated when it comes to overcommitting to something so I am careful before posting a proposal.