WRITE.
WRITE.
WRITE.
That’s it. That’s the tip.
The ONLY writing tip you will ever need.
Obvious, I know, but I believe many, including myself, seem to forget this. It’s easy to get caught up in the how-to’s that are helpful but inevitably can waste time. A lot of time. So much damn time.
When I started to write my book I spent days just letting the words flow. Halfway through writing, and frustrated with certain nonsensical methods, I began to search for a better process to the madness. Writing with no outline or any clue what the story even was or where it was going seemed silly. Then of course there was the idea of self-publishing and the monster that was to navigate. Of course, there is Google the start of all black holes, and Youtube where I go in for one thing and find myself in a galaxy far far away in the end.
Suddenly I had stopped writing and was spending hours upon hours researching Reddit, watching TikToks, adding books on writing I couldn’t afford to baskets I would never checkout. I saved pins on Pinterest for How to Write the Perfect Plot, How to Create Your Scenes, Dialogue mistakes for first-time writers.
I was doing everything but the one thing I needed to be doing, WRITING.
I am not going to say all of that is pure nonsense or clickbait wastes of time. Of course not. There are some brilliant resources out there and why make the same mistakes someone has already made and written a handbook on. BUT, much of it truly is noise and you only realize that after you have spent far too much time in the trenches. I became paralyzed by the idea that I was not writing my book in the right way. Truthfully though had I not made the mistakes I had I would not have found my own process. I would not be writing a second book.
If you are writing your first book get your rough first draft completed first and foremost before searching for the never-ending tips, tricks, and how-tos. Because writing is the only writing tip you need. Get the bones of your story so that you can build from there. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself doing everything but the one thing you need to do.