A friend recently asked me how I can possibly write a full-length novel and finish it?

The shortest answer I gave was one word at a time. One word quickly turns into a sentence, a paragraph, a scene, a chapter…and a book. But I also mentioned that for me, before I start any project, the fear is real.

Will I finish it? Will it work out on paper the way I’m visualising it inside my head. Will the story be as good as I want it to be? A dozen questions flood my thoughts, but once I write that first word, paragraph, scene, fear is replaced by sheer determination to see it through.

Here are some of the things that help me get from 1 word to 90k words…

• WILLPOWER
  Now, this comes from within, and I have to constantly reach for it.
• PATIENCE
  Oh, sweet, sweet, patience! Writing needs patience. There’s writing, rewriting, deleting, writing, editing, revising, rewriting, editing … it never ends until the book is on the shelf. And getting the book on the shelf…that’s another post!
• HOPE
  Without hope, it’s hard to see the end of something. I always carry the hope that at the end of it, I’ll have a book that I’ll be proud of.
• IDEA
  In terms of ideas, I have plenty but I find the most joy when I write what I like to read or write. My ideas are mainly sparked by random things: a word, an image, a conversation…
• BELIEF
  This is a huge one. If I didn’t believe that I could finish a book, I’d have stopped writing years ago.
• LOVE
  Love, love, love! I love telling a story, and that’s why I write. Writing is a roller coaster of emotion and can be a lonely thing, but despite the ups and downs, I continue to write for the love of writing.

Happy writing!
Lorraine