#80: Writing Books Is A Mindset Shift

I used to believe people who wrote books were from another world entirely.

Stories held such a special place in my heart that the idea of crafting one never even crossed my mind. During my teenage years, when a few characters with extraordinary abilities emerged in my thoughts, I never dared to explore them.

Years later, when my daughter embarked on writing a short story as a Year 10 assignment, I offered my assistance. Together, we crafted a short narrative, and I witnessed characters coming to life before my eyes. The experience opened my eyes to a new possibility - anyone can write stories.

The writing bug had bitten me, and I discovered that it was feasible to construct stories from scratch. However, true to my nature as someone who always strives harder, I didn't begin with short stories; I delved straight into the world of novel writing.

I signed up for a year-long course at the local writer's center, and during the course, I finally shared a story concept that had been swirling in my mind for a while. To my delight, everyone in the class enthusiastically approved of the idea.

With the limited knowledge I had acquired during the course and the scarce time I could carve out from my full-time job, responsibilities to my teenage children, and the care required by my elderly parents, I somehow forged ahead and transformed that concept into what some might affectionately call the "rough first draft."

Then I left it in the proverbial bottom drawer of my desk.

I had lost my shoshin.

Shoshin represents a concept of Zen Buddhism according to which - in the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind, there are few.

When I started writing the novel, I was in the beginner’s mindset. I was curious about the process of creating characters, putting them in trouble, letting them make decisions, and then watching them react.

It was all fun and games.

But then, self-doubt crept in. Doubts swirled and I wondered why anyone would be interested in reading my novel. I began questioning my ability to see the project through to the end. Writing a novel is a multi-year endeavor, isn't it? Did I truly have the skills and the time to commit to such a lengthy process? What if I couldn't secure a publisher, and my work never saw the light of day? The fear of all my efforts going to waste began to gnaw at me.

It took a decade for me to shift my perspective and gather the courage to go back to my novel. Much like everyone else, I held preconceived notions about the process of writing books.

This transformation in my thinking occurred during a period of significant change in the world of book publishing. Amazon introduced Kindle Direct Publishing in November 2007, and within a mere five years, self-publishing had reached its zenith.

Many of you, reading this article, still might have them. So let’s tackle a few of them here. 

Books are too hard to write.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. — Ernest Hemingway.

Although in the past few decades, “writing” used to be considered as “bleeding on the page,” it is not the case anymore.

Have you ever written a university assignment or a thesis for your Masters degree? 

What did you do for that?

You selected a topic (or given a topic), researched, hypothesized, made an argument supporting your hypothesis, gave supporting examples, wrote a conclusion, and you were done.

That is all there is to writing a non-fiction book. 

Make your first book a trial one. 

Choose any topic that either you know about or want to know about. Research it. Look at it from your point of view, add bits of your own story, and you will give the topic a unique angle. 

If you are a blogger and have written many articles, you might already have a book in them. Put together many articles with similar themes and then weave them in a coherent manner.

Books are nothing more than a collection of blog posts telling a coherent story. 

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Books take years to write.

That is what most people think. However, talk to any professional writer, and they will tell you they write the first draft very quickly.

If you interrupt the writing of a fast narrative with too much introspection and self-criticism you will be lucky if you write 500 words a day and you will be disgusted with them in the bargain. By following my formula you write 2000 words a day and you aren’t disgusted with them until the book is finished, which will be in about six weeks. — Ian Fleming.

There are many advantages of writing your book fast. First, you are in a flow state. Second, you are not seeking perfection but getting the story on the page. 

You are not messing with your sentences, searching in vain for the right turn of phrase. You know you can always improve a sentence in the editing process. 

You are not agonizing for weeks, changing back and forth, getting to that perfect prose at the initial stage of writing. You are in the discovery phase and want to figure out where the book is going. You can always go back and connect the dot.

It is not the writing of the book that takes longer, but the other stages. Two of the most time-consuming parts of the book writing process are — research and editing/rewriting. 

As a new writer, I also used to think that accomplished writers write a book in one go. 

Nothing was far from the truth. 

Accomplished writers have a process they follow. In that process, they allocate time for each step. 

How long it takes you to write a book depends upon how good your process is and how polished your skills are. Both are achieved by writing several books.

Many self-published authors are releasing several books a year. 

There are already too many books in the world.

Thousands of books on every topic have been written. Every human emotion has been explored, and every piece of advice has been given. All human experiences have already been cataloged in countless books.

Then why should I write a book? 

The answer is no one can explain as you do.

There are countless books written on writing. I have read many of them and some of them several times. These books are written so well and never fail to inspire me. If I look at them, I feel I could never write like them; why I should even bother? 

But the truth is my learning is not just from one book but several books. Repeated reading, deconstruction, and repeated usage have helped me understand concepts, which I now explain in my own way. In addition, I have learned to put my own spin on the topic. 

Let’s say ten new writers are given the assignment to write a book on writing, and each one of them is given the same ten books on writing as reference material; each one will come up with a different book. Each one of them will be inspired by the different bits of the same book.

It is like ten chefs cooking the same dish with the same ingredients following the same recipe. Even then, each chef’s dish will taste different. Each chef will do something different, which will make her dish different from the other one.

Why would anyone want to read my book?

Your voice and your perspective.

Your take on a subject might be different even though slightly. But, on the other hand, your arguments might make more sense. And combined with your story, it might impact someone.

Your story, your voice, and your perspective will make your book original even if the topic has been explored countless times before.

Your creativity and viewpoint will make your book stand out from a thousand others on the same topic. So trust your instincts and write your book in your own way.

It is too hard to get published.

“It provides some kind of primal verification: you are in print: therefore, you exist.”– Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

When I took to writing, it was drilled into me to concentrate on writing and not worry about publishing. 

Because getting published was not only hard but next to impossible. 

In his book On Writing, Stephen King talks about collecting rejection slips as a badge of honor.

But then the world changed right in front of my eyes. The Internet came, blogging started, and some daring writers started self-publishing. 

The publishing industry has changed forever. We live in the internet age where everything is online, yet most of us, when we think of publishing, think of physical books.

Today, readers are purchasing more books as e-books and audiobooks than print copies. 

You don’t have to go through the gatekeepers such as agents and traditional publishers to get your book published. Instead, you can publish and sell your book yourself. 

Having a dream to write books and to be able to write them is just the mindset shift. Once you identify that, there is enough knowledge around for you to be able to do it on your own.

Surely it helps if you do it with other like-minded people.

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That’s all from me this week.

Neera Mahajan