Want to Write A Book?

Want to write a book?  Then do it.  It's that simple.  But I must warn you, writing a book is much like giving birth.  The thing will take on a life of it's own, you will pour your life into it, then it will grow legs and walk away.

For those of you out there who have ventured into the untamed jungles of the written word, those paths teeming with wild beasts for us to slay and drink their blood, you may be more well-acquainted with what I am trying to speak.  The more I hurtle through the cosmos in this intriguing physical body, firmly planted on a swiftly spinning blue and green orb, the more I seem to meet people who either already are authors, or are aspiring authors, and by that I mean they have an idea for a book.

Maybe we all have more in common than we think.  I believe we are all authors.  We all have stories to tell.  It's who we are.  It is the medium that may be different for each of us.  Whereas no one can turn a phrase quite like old Bill Shakespeare, no one can cut a deal like The Donald (Trump, that is).  I hope you catch my drift.  Some of us put pen to paper, quill to ink, brush to canvas, etc, some of us cut deals, handle money, build things with our hands, etc.  Each and every part of it, every act tells a story.  In fact, the more conscious we are of our eternal core, the more we will find that EVERYTHING we encounter, from the most insignifant speck of light, to the birth of a newborn child, all of it is talking to us all the time. 

With the ease and accessibility of new self-publishing tools, the creation of a pretty nice self-published product has put a new face on literature as an industry.  It has also made it easier for any crack-pot spin half-realized theories bind them into a volume and have them blasted onto the international marketplace.  What has emerged is that now we have even more information being presented to us in much larger quantities at a much faster rate.  With such a realization sitting over us (myself), I'm always left wrestling with the question:  Why would anybody want to read what I write?  What makes what I have to say worth anybody's time.

As I have sat and mulled that over time and time again a couple of answers have remained consistent.  1.  I don't care if anyone wants to hear what I have to say or not.  The process of composing and creating breathes enough life into me on it's own.  2.  I can't stop myself.  These two answers are in constant conversation and crossing one another's lines.

But often, over the past two years more frequently and specifically I have been approached by several people in this manner:  "I have this idea.  Do you think I should write a book?"  My answer is always a resounding yes.  Write it.  It is never going to get written if you sit there constantly and simply just talk about it.  Ideas have to be anchored into something manifestable on this plane of existence, otherwise they just simply remain ideas.  Yes, an idea can change the world, but an idea devoid of any means to be communicated ultimately turns to dust. 

In the midst of wrestling with your creation, (aka the writing process) you will discover whether the idea is enough to carry a full-length work, whether you need to stop and take a few steps back and let the work breathe to give the ideas new life, or you may even discover the idea you had in the first place was just one link the the chain to a list of much bigger ideas, thus spurring you onto a much bigger, greater and/or different work. 

Point being...Go for it.  Be open to everything.  But ultimately, for me at least the creative process and the discovery it brings forth is the ultimate reward. 

Prime example: Over the course of the past 10 years...I've written 3 full-length novels.  8 Collections of poetry.  1 full-length play.  2 one act plays.  1 novella.  Exactly 15,235,874 blog articles.  Of which only one poetry collection and one novel have seen the light of day, and those two only to an audience of a few hundred people.

Is it worth it?  Yes it's always worth it.  If you're asking that, then you're asking the wrong question to begin with. 

Go, get on it.

Also, you can purchase my books Lambs that Howl and Outside Time and the Voice in Your Ear by clicking on the titles.