I’m writing a book.
There. I’ve said it. You have no idea how hard it was for me to type that.
I feel like a cliche. You know, the proverbial English teacher who envisions herself a great novelist.
But I don’t envision myself as a great novelist (or a great anything, really, but that’s a topic for another day, another post).
So why am I writing a book?
It’s simple. I’ve always wanted to.
In fact, I started a novel a couple of years ago. I made quite a bit of progress on it before getting stuck and, quite frankly, losing interest. I had chosen a story line that seemed logical, given my back ground and circumstances, but I was bored silly with it before I’d written two chapters.
You see, I’d decided to write a fictionalized (heavily fictionalized) version of a significant chapter in my own life. But the more I wrote, the less I wanted to write.
I finally realized that I had completed that chapter of my life and didn’t really want to relive it again. I saved the unfinished novel, revisited it a few times (primarily out of quitter’s guilt, I know), but never finished it.
I learned an important lesson from that experience. I learned that I don’t want to write a story I’ve already lived.
On the contrary, I want to write a story of what I’d like to live.
I’m still in the prewriting stage. I’m doing research, gathering information and details, plotting out a very rough timeline and creating character biographies.
From time to time, I’ll share updates and, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, some snippets from my draft.
Until then, though, you can help me out a bit by sharing, via a comment below, your answer to a few questions. What do you like in a book? More specifically, what is it that makes your favorite books, your favorites? On the other hand, what do you dislike in a book?
I can’t wait to see your answers!