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Wanna Help Me Decide IF I Should Write A Book

daytonadan1983

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2007
Messages
724
So I went to Vince Carter's mom's book signing and you guessed it, the wheels are turning...

(C'mon if she can do it....Also, I also learned that one of my former sentinel colleagues is now a crime writer under a pseudonym..)

Part of me wants to, but with everything going on I don't know if I'm going to be able to devote any serious time or attention even if things go through. I'm kind of content knowing that the football history book/ read: glorified media guide I'll be doing over the summer will include several feature stories and could serve that purpose in my quest for self-completion.

Eager to hear what you good people think. As for everything else, things are progressing quite well....
 
This is where I get stuck:

I usually find that shipty moods get my mind in its best spot to be creative. Emotions and all that. If I have a "target," it'll get the writing juices flowing. Yes, I know that's… weird.

It's drudgery. I've never made significant progress. Maybe a chapter. That's it.

I've heard/read guys like Lupica (may not have been him personally) say you need to treat it like a job: sit at the desk, write 1,000 words a day, no matter what.
 
Do as much of anything that you want to do as you can. You want no regrets about things you never even tried to do.
 
Researching and writing a book was one of the most difficult projects I ever undertook.
Then, you have to market the thing. For me, that was harder than putting it together.
All I know is you need to have pashion for the subject. That's what carried me through.
 
As @TheSportsPredictor noted - a little bit at a time goes a long way.

Even if it's just a paragraph. You're one paragraph ahead of where you previously were. Some days you'll write like a madman (or madwoman). Other days you won't.

Don't do what I did. History Press asked me to write a book on the oldest high school football rivalry in the nation in like 2011 (one of those schools is my alma mater, and I wrote for its alumni magazine). This was in 2011, and they gave me a May 2012 deadline. Decided to wait until April 2012 to get started. I got it done on time, but writing 52,148 words and finding all the photos and whatnot in one month sucked. And while I was happy with the finished product, it could have been better had I used the time to my advantage.

So if you don't have a deadline, and this is just for fun - a little bit here and there will work out in the end. But keep at it. And good luck.
 
A friend of mine has written several psycho thrillers, have never read one but I have checked the previews on Amazon, I am not a fan but good for him for churning them out. His wife designs some cool covers.

I read an interview with Stephen King once - might have been in Playboy eons ago - and he said he wrote every day except his birthday and Christmas and if for some reason he couldn't write one day he got migraines.

I have supplied research for two hockey books - one mash market, one niche - and as much fun as it was it was a lot of work connecting with the writer for what they wanted. Was nice to get a good shoutout in both
 

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