Writing a book is an incredible experience, full of ups and downs, epiphanies and roadblocks. It’s a journey that can be both exciting and challenging, and one that teaches you a lot about yourself, your writing abilities, your perseverance, and your tolerance for coffee or tea or spirits and whatnot. As someone who has not-so-recently completed their first book, I can attest to the fact that there were a lot of mistakes made along the way. I want to share some of those mistakes in the hopes that they will help others who are embarking on their own writing journey. This ain’t new and it ain’t rocketry. I’m sure you’ve seen similar things before, so to be fair, these are the proverbial potholes into which I stumbled and broke my ankles in while making the run to the finish line.
Mistake #1: Not having a plan or an outline
When I started writing my book, I had a vague idea of the plot and characters in my head, but I didn’t take the time to create an outline. I just started writing one day. Wasn’t really a planner. Didn’t know what a pantser was, but that’s probably where I fell. Plantser? Hah. As a result, I found myself getting lost in the story, unsure of where I was going next or how to tie everything together. It wasn’t until I changed the general premise of the main storyline for the fourth time that I stopped and created a detailed outline that I was able to regain my footing and write with purpose. That process in itself, and the discoveries and ensuing 70k or so words later was an eight year lesson.
Mistake #2: Not setting a consistent writing schedule
Schedule, schmedule! Amirite? Yeah, I made the mistake of writing whenever I felt inspired, which meant that I went days or 
even weeks without writing anything at all. Hell, I still make that mistake, but with much less time between my fits and starts. This led to a lot of frustration and a lack of progress on the book. It wasn’t until I set a consistent writing schedule for myself that I was able to make significant headway. Nanowrimo helped, but it also hurt. In fact, my first book was started during Nano 2012. And eight years later… something popped out! Eight years, tho.
Mistake #3: Not seeking feedback early on
I was hesitant to share my work with others, afraid of criticism and rejection. I thought at times it was either the next Pablo Picasso of science fantasy, or, like a mom with an ugly baby, I had a mutated, slimy three headed demon-spawn named Bert that only I could love. I thought my story was too difficult to follow, and ended up thinking many times, why the green hells am I writing it, then? As a result, I didn’t seek feedback until I was well into the writing process. Well into the process as in, I had finished my third draft – THEN I decided to get someone’s eyes on it. Had I sought feedback earlier, I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort by addressing issues early on. And there were quite a few. Some style dings, some comments about corniness and that the dragonfly thing was just plain stupid. Eh, to each his own, I suppose. But ya, that dragonfly thing makes me cringe to think about it. See? That would have been good to know back when I was writing it.
Mistake #4: Overthinking and editing too much
I have a tendency to overthink things, and that was certainly true with my book. There’s just too much going on!!! I’d love a redo (and perhaps some day I will) but my warts-and-all firstborn spawn shall grace the e-bookstores forevermore as is. Anyway, I would spend hours obsessing over a single paragraph or sentence, trying to get it just right. While it’s important to edit and revise your work, I learned that there comes a point where you need to let go and trust your instincts. So eight years later… you know the rest.
Mistake #5: Not taking breaks
Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. I wish I could write at a sprinter’s pace. That way I could churn them out to develop this universe I have in my head that’s been taking up way too much space for way too many years. I made the mistake of pushing myself too hard and not taking breaks when I needed them, especially at the end. I got anxious and a bit excited about seeing that finish line and hopefully the story didn’t suffer too much. The burnout that followed has made it extremely difficult to pick up the story where I left it. Given that my story isn’t a one and done, I’ve got lots of loose
ends to tie up over the next several books. The sheer lack of motivation that followed was a hard lesson, but I guess I had to learn it. It’s important to take breaks and give yourself time to recharge so that you can come back to the writing process refreshed and ready to go.
Writing a book is a challenging but rewarding – but insane – experience. While there will inevitably be potholes along the way, it’s important to learn where they are so they are best avoided, and you can keep pushing forward. Oh, and don’t take eight years to write a 100k monster of a book that, in hindsight, should have been two 65k books instead.
Not that I know of anyone who has done that or anything. (¬_¬”)