I’ve just finished a book. Now, I know this doesn’t sound impressive – voracious readers can a finish a book a day, but I mean finished writing one.
Like many authors, I sometimes wonder why I do it. Practically every part of the process is painful. Okay, there’s a teensy bit of ‘wow, I did that’ when you get you hands on the finished product, or see it on a bookshop shelf, but a lot of stages along the way are more unpleasant than enjoyable. I’m yet to meet a writer who isn’t an excellent procrastinator, doing almost anything to avoid getting down to committing words to paper or disc. (Some even resort to writing blogs to avoid getting on with a book.)
The answer to ‘why I do it’, I suspect, is because I have to. I can’t not write. It’s just a part of my nature. (I wonder what the kind of people who are now driven to write did before they invented writing? I’m not sure it’s enough to say they were storytellers. It’s a different thing.)
So tomorrow morning, book number 32 (ulp) is on its way to the publisher, and I will be in that painful state that accompanies this part of the process. ‘Will they like it?’ I’ll be thinking. ‘Is it rubbish?’
Luckily I have a suitable distraction from the worries. Here goes number 33…
Brian – seriously, many congratulations. Finishing a book, and sending it off to the publisher, is a wonderful sensation, and makes up for all the heartache along the way.
Some even resort to writing blogs to avoid getting on with a book
Guilty as charged. Especially at the moment. Though gardening is also another pleasant distraction in the warm weather we’re having. And taking the dog to the beach. And all those little DIY jobs I’ve been putting off … and … and …
Your accomplishment is just fabulous! Sincere congratulations.
Believe me, it’s quite similar to sending a scientific article off to the editor of a journal you respect.
Isn’t blog-writing just procrastination in writing form? You don’t really have to edit it; it’s all in the present.
I wish I could say I loved to write. I love to read, and that is an understatement. I have a blog, and I realized in shock the other day that I am responsible for nearly 400 posts now. But I don’t like to write. I like to interact and to communicate.
So, I am quite jealous and in great admiration before your umpteenth book. I think I will probably write one or more, sooner or later (having made some aborted efforts before) but you really have carried through. And that belies any claims of procrastination to which you pretend.
Wow, congratulations! If you don’t mind, can you tell us all about how many hours per day you spend working on a book?
“I don’t like to write. I like to interact and to communicate.” Me, too. Though, sometimes, I get possessed and really want to, well, write. Never thought that book-length and form were for me. Hence, 5329 blog posts instead.
Congratulations!
If you don’t mind, can you tell us all about how many hours per day you spend working on a book?
Nuruddeen – I probably spend all but around 2 working days a month on writing, but although in principle I have a full nine hours a day to give to writing, by the time I’ve got the procrastination out of the way, and done lots of bits and pieces, I probably rarely spend more than 4 hours a day on researching/writing books.
I don’t know any authors who don’t find it much easier to (say) check a few websites, write a blog, pop to the post office – do practically anything rather than write. The silly thing is, once you get going it’s enjoyable and you wonder why you procrastinated. Then next day it happens all over again. A few juicy quotes to back this up:
You do your best to delay the moment of creation – Laurie Lee used to copy out all the shipping news from The Times before he started a poem. John Mortimer
I have yet to meet a writer who wouldn’t rather peel a banana than apply himself to a pen. Alice Thomas Ellis
and, of course, the most famous procrastinator of them all, the late, great Douglas Adams:
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Congratulations! I really should get around to writing one of my own some day. After I’ve checked all my RSS feeds, site stats, facebook, etc…
congrats ! Do tell us once book is published…