Have you always wanted to write a novel? Me too! We are in great company, you and I. We, the few, the unmotivated have caught ourselves many a time finishing a novel to only state, "I could have written that book" or even "I could have written that book better." We're right you know. We could have. But we didn't.
Writing a novel is no easy task and so we must take our hats off to those who have not only written a novel, but have gotten it published too. Just like you, I have unwritten novels in my head that are growing extremely inpatient with me. I am sure they will either kick me into gear or will quietly slip away to another writer's mind and then I will catch myself saying, "That was the novel I was going to write!" So how do you begin to write? Novel writing is no different than any other form of writing in one regard, words must be transferred from brain to paper through whatever means possible.
Nobody ever became a writer from attending workshops and seminars or reading how-to books or even articles, like this one. But what this article hopes to do is motivate you. I know it has motivated me in the writing of it. One of the first things to overcome is your idea that you don't have time. Don't even bother to deny it. That is your first excuse right? Well, I know it is mine. Here's the cliché (isn't there always one?) we are all given 24 hours a day and seven days in the week. What we chose to do with that time is the key. You can squeeze in time for many things that are less important in your life, I won't even bother to mention them, but if novel writing is so important to you why can't you squeeze it in too?
The next thing to overcome is fear. Expressed or not, it is there. Do you think any of the great writers of any time didn't deal with this? E. B White said, "A writer's courage can easily fail him. I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all." The point is, get past it and get writing. William Faulkner said, "All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible." Don't worry, you aren't expected to be perfect- in fact that's what makes writers so enchanting, our humanness.
If you are really serious about writing your novel you will just get to it, no matter the handicaps. We all have jobs, bills, pressures, families and other things to divide our time but it can be done. Sinclair Lewis once asked a group of student's he had been invited to address, "How many of you here are really serious about being writers?" The hands all shot up. Lewis than responded, "Well, why aren't you all home writing?" and with that he walked out of the room. 'Nuff said.
My challenge to you is start writing your novel today. You can go to classes and read articles later but today, start writing. Then the next day, keep writing. You'll be two days closer to your goal of a written novel and that is two days closer than you were yesterday.