Lesson 1: You Can Write A Novel in Thirty Days
You can write a novel of at least 50,000 words in thirty days even if you have a day job, a social life, and a toddler. I know this because I have all three. In this first lesson, I'll discuss being a writer, scheduling your writing time, finding inspiration, and staying motivated. Then we'll start writing.
I recommend the following three books to supplement this course. The course can be completed without them, however, they contain significantly helpful information. Besides these three books, there are numerous inspiring books on writing including those listed in the lesson bibliographies. You will find books on every aspect of writing at your local bookstore, library, or Internet bookstore such as Writer's Digest.
Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass. This book, subtitled, "Insider advice for taking your fiction to the next level," is a well-written, helpful book that offers techniques to elevate your use of characters, settings, plots, and themes to the best-seller level. It gives genre-specific and literary information.
Writer's Market, by Kathryn S. Brogan and Robert Lee Brewer is a directory of agents and book and magazine publishers. It also contains helpful articles on the process of preparing and submitting a work for publication.
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. In her book subtitled, "Some Instructions on Writing and Life," Ms. Lamott gives specific information about writing while also telling the story of her journey into the writing life.
Being A Writer
If you're like most writers, you've always wanted to write, felt compelled to express yourself, and wished to make a difference in the world by inspiring, entertaining, or otherwise affecting your readers. Writing fulfills a need for most writers. It can be lonely at times, exciting at others. Because we expose ourselves when we write, it takes courage. We face and overcome our insecurities each time we sit to write at our desk, in the local coffee shop, or under a big tree at the park.
Writing is often a solitary activity, so it's important for writers to connect with other writers once in awhile, because only another writer can truly empathize with the emotional challenges of expressing ourselves in this form, offering our artistic efforts to an unknown audience who may criticize our work. It's natural to take these criticisms personally.
I encourage you to write something every day even when you're not working on a novel. I also encourage you to continue to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction. As well as entertaining and enlightening you, reading serves as subconscious writing lessons. If you haven't already, you can begin to pay conscious attention to the ways your favorite authors describe characters and settings and how they use dialogue and show thoughts.
Everything you read or have read will influence your writing to some degree. For this reason, I recommend that you don't read anything too similar to what you're currently writing to avoid subconscious mirroring or copying.
Good luck in this courageous journey. Express yourself. That's what writing is about.
