Do you want to write a book?

And your book wasn't there, Mods?

 

If I can defend JR here, I think what he's saying is, a lot of people talk a a lot about writing a lot of books, and they never even come close to writing one. It's wearing after a while, if you've worked in the industry -- as JR has -- or if you've written a book, being told all the time about someone's future bestseller, knowing full well that they will never get past the idea phase. It's like, I'd much rather hear about the women you've fucked than the imaginary women you're going to fuck, someday, if you ever get around to it.

Don't get me wrong, spitballing is fun, and I throw ideas around all the time. That's part of the process; as someone pointed out, it's the first part, in fact. But at some point, if you're serious about this, and if you're tired of hearing whatever excuses you've been using for the past dozen years (many of which have been helpfully provided on this thread) -- and believe me, there are a thousand very good reasons why NOT to write a book, because it's really, really hard -- you'll actually do what it takes to get it done.

And that is, you'll sit down, turn on your desk lamp, stir the cream into your coffee, take a deep breath, and write one word, and then another word, and then another...

Until a few months or years later, when you'll write the last one, and you'll feel as though you've taken the biggest, most satisfying, I-just-shit-out-an-Apollo-capsule superdump of your life.

And that's something really worth talking about.

 

Chip off the old block, isn't he?

 

Is this going to be a "how-to" or an "I did"?

 

What if I don't like coffee? Can I drink something else while I type?

 

Wow, I was going to post but now I'm not going to.

In fact, I'll be lucky if I don't have nightmares of JR's avatar chasing me around, screaming, "WRITE YOUR FUCKING BOOK OR STFU!"

 

There's nothing wrong with ideas--you can't write a book without one. It's what you do with the idea that counts. Telling your inlaws and neighbors isn't going to cut it. Working your contacts and colleagues to get the names of their agents and editors....picking up the phone and making a connection....having the confidence and insanity to actually put something on paper....that's how it happens.

But nothing happens without an idea.

I'm stunned by the number of great writers--with great ideas--who start the process, talk to agents and editors, seem so pumped up to get started, and then just can't bring themselves to commit the idea to paper. If you aren't the greatest advocate for yourself and your idea, how can you expect an agent or publisher to make it happen for you?

Bottom line, if you believe in your idea, you owe it to yourself to find out if anyone else will believe in it too.

It's not easy, it's rarely lucrative, but it's a helluva trophy when it's sitting on your bookshelf forever.

 

Thanks for ruining the thread.

 

ambiance killer

and thanks swenk

 

Now here's a novel idea. With JR as our main motivator (and financial backer) someone should write a book about the soap opera that is SportsJournalists.com. I know, I know, it's simply an "idea" and we the majority have little to no knowledge of how the industry really works, but by golly wouldn't that be fun?

But we can't have it all, can we?

 

I can't believe you stole that line from Neruda's Nobel speech.