It’s about that time of year again.
The EXACT same time - almost to the day - as a year ago when you started your novel, picked up those woodworking tools again, went on your “first” run, grabbed that book that’s been collecting dust on your shelf the past three years, or even said to yourself “starting Sunday (because it is the “beginning” of a new week) I am not going to eat ANY snacks after dinner”.
You will start it. You always do.
—--
You sit down at the computer this time with the same draw and determination that you had last year when you began writing your last book. The last saved document with your writing sits there waiting for you, but you don’t need that one anymore. You have a new adventure just waiting to pop out of your fingers and onto the page. It’s going to be so much better this time.
Beginning to write, you feel really into it. Your writing has gotten so much better, and you haven’t even practiced! After a few paragraphs, your writing begins to slow as you go back and re-read what you wrote. Multiple times. Cringing and correcting it to the best of your ability, as the weight of what you are undertaking starts to slowly creep into the back of your mind - gnawing at your psyche. You progress slower and slower, completing possibly a few pages until you say “ok, that's enough for right now. I will come back tomorrow and start on the second half of this chapter”.
Remember, this year is different than all the others. You are going to come back. Finishing the book is your goal, and you will not fail this time around.
The next day you get up early. You set time aside SPECIFICALLY to write, and you DO go back this time.
Opening the document, you just stare at the page after rereading what you wrote the day before - trying to pick up where you left off. The white space is a bit staggering, but you are determined to get through this. If you could just finish this book, you know it will sell and make you millions. People will love it. You just have to get through it! You have two hours to write today, which should equate to at least two completed chapters. That white space, though.
2 Hours left…
Suddenly - an idea begins to build.
You can’t write on Google Docs. There has to be a program to help you organize your thoughts better and make writing this book a little easier.
A quick online search later brings up the thousands of note-taking, writing, and “mind organizing” programs. The scrolling of available programs is endless. Wait - Google Docs is on the list? How can people write using that? You can’t organize a single thought on the page without messing up the flow of your writing. There are definitely better programs out there. You can find one.
At the top of the search page, there is a Reddit post asking a group of self-publishers “Are there any good programs for writing a novel?”. This is exactly what you were looking for - real world opinions and reviews of specific writing software. Again, someone mentions Google Docs. Another says “It doesn’t matter. Write on a piece of paper if you want. Just write”. Well, you’re definitely not doing that. Why else do you have this nice computer that makes it much faster and easier to write on?
Reading through all the comments, you settle on a program that is “all-in-one” with writing, compiling, and organizing. It can even help you publish the novel after completion!
1.5 hours left…
Downloading doesn’t take very long. You excitedly open the program, ready to get to writing, but a pop-up opens onto the screen requesting that you buy the full version to unlock all features the app has available. Ah crap - the paid version is required to actually get your novel “publish ready”. It’s only $39.99, though. One hundred percent worth it for the ease of getting your book out to the general public more quickly.
1.25 hours remaining…
Finding the credit card took longer than it should have, but you finally got all the info into the system, paid for the service, and are now the owner of the best writing system on the market. Now, let’s sit down and write.
The first thing you need to choose to what type of book you will be writing. That’s easy - fiction. An epic to rival that of Lord of the Rings, with new ideas, fun and charming characters, and a mind-blowing twist in the end.
The blank white page stares back at you, and a little twinge of…something…goes through the back of your brain. No worries here. You have already started the book. Just copy and paste the pages you have written in Google Docs over to this new format. Easy peasy.
After transferring the partially written chapters, your eyes explore the now-filled page and notice the tab on the left of the screen. There is an entire list of words representing individual pages for organizing your book.
Cover
Title Page
Manuscript
Forward
Chapter
Intro
Chapter
Chapter
Paperback
Ebook
Manuscript Format
Notes
Ideas
Research
Trash
Darn it. You put the copied Google Doc words into the “Forward” tab when it should have gone into the “Chapter” section. Wait, no. It should have gone into the “Intro” section as that is part of the first chapter of the book. You think.
Clicking on “Chapter” and “Intro”, you realize they both have blank pages that can be copied into.
Confusion, and a bit of aggrevation, start to take over as you click through all of the tabs trying to figure out where you should copy your first almost completed chapter. It definitely goes under one of those tabs. Do you need to write a forward? Maybe you should just put your chapter under “Ideas” since it isn’t really complete yet. The easiest thing to do is to watch a quick video on how to use the program efficiently, and the easiest place to find that video is the internet.
Back to Google.
.5 hours left…
There were so many videos. So, so many.
Luckily, you found some good ones after some more searching for “who’s videos are best for learning this program?”. You found your answer on another writing Reddit thread, and spent a bit of time reading through the posts about different ways of writing and the best methods to help you get started. Great real-world experience and research.
The program is still open, with your copied text in the same spot as before, and the clock grabs your attention. CRAP. Only 30 minutes left to write before you have to leave. That’s no time to finish a chapter. That twinge in the back of your brain happens again. Guilt? Well, there is no point in starting a new paragraph now. You jot down some ideas under the so named tab, copy and paste your written words from a couple days before into the Intro tab, and save the document.
You don’t really feel accomplished, but it will get easier now because you own and understand the new writing program. No quitting this time. Next time you are able to sit down and write you’ll be pumping out pages like Schwarzenegger pumps iron.
Too bad that will never happen.
There may be times over the next couple weeks you go back to the computer and stare at the screen. Maybe even write down a few sentences. Hell, you may even get as far as actually finishing a chapter. You will NOT finish the book, though. There will always be that specific distraction or excuse, and it is so funny how that distraction or excuse will continuously change as you begin to look for opportunities to get away from your writing.
Pick an activity. Any activity. You will start it, but you won’t see it through and continue on the path to betterment.
- Your first run feels great, until two days later when your legs still hurt. You don’t go on that second run.
- Those woodworking tools in your shed that you used to build the step stool, cutting board, or whatever else you were going to sell to make some side money are still sitting there. Covered in the first few weeks of sawdust that was left there from over two years ago.
- When was the last time you used that bike?
- That treadmill is one expensive coat rack.
- You bought all those Tupperware containers so that you could meal prep for the week and save time making your lunch every day.
- Don’t get me started on the kayak.
- Getting up at 5am went great! For a week. Staying up late caught up with you and you’re back to waking up later and scrambling to get ready and out the door for work.
- You said you were going to start making the bed every day. It’s day 4, and the sheets are still scrunched up at the foot of the bed.
You are a lightswitch bitch.
I would apologize that you had to find out this way, but you already knew you had the attention span of a goldfish. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this.
Well, that is if you made it this far.
Now the question is, do you want to turn your lightswitch on and continue to be a better you? If so, keep going. Turn your light on.
If not, then I will talk to you again next year.