How to write a book, plus the part about putting sentences together

If I had a dollar for every time someone asks me how to write a book, that is, the part other than the actual construction of the awards, I could, well, have you and some friends over for dinner. So I haven’t been asked lots and lots of times, but enough to know it’s a popular question.

I have four books published and another one on the way in June. There are two more, but those are long ago and far away (aka “practice”). This is what has worked for me…

*HAVE A ROUTINE

The main part of the writing is here: “Seat of pants to seat of chair.” I have a specific time when I sit down to write, which helps the writing muse come play with me. When it’s time to sleep and I do my nightly routine, I’m ready to sleep. As soon as the vitamin D and K drops touch my tongue, I’m sleepy, even if I wasn’t that sleepy before. It’s the same thing in the morning: I drink my coffee and read the daily report from the New York Times (I will always be a native New Yorker), I sit in my writing nest and I’m ready to write. The muse awaits me at that time and place.

I also have a specific playlist or album for each book; As soon as that music starts playing, it’s Pavlovian and I’m automatically transported to Old Jerusalem, the mountains of Idaho, Scotland in 1597, Los Angeles, wherever the book takes place.

*GIVE YOURSELF A SET AMOUNT OF TIME TO WRITE…OR NOT…OR ALTERNATE BOTH

If I give myself the whole day to write, then I have the whole day to… actually, not write that much. It’s like I’m saying to myself, “Oh, I’ve got all this time, so I’ll just look out the window. And then maybe rearrange a drawer or two.” Yes, if I find myself doing other tasks, that could be part of the brainstorming time (see below). But I also feel a little guilty that I’m not writing. If I give myself an hour or two at a time, I usually write for a full hour or two.

*GIVE YOURSELF ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

I am not very demanding with deadlines because for me nothing can speed up this process, although I am a very fast writer. I also enjoy the breadth of open time. Also, in direct contradiction to the above, a full day’s worth of writing space is, well, delicious. And if one or two drawers can even be rearranged, that’s fine.

*KEEP A NOTEBOOK ON HAND

Ideas seem to come more often when I’m doing the dishes, taking a shower, folding laundry, and the like. My best time to think is in the car, especially on long road trips. My phone is always by my side, ready to jot down notes in the small notebook section (by voice while driving, of course).

* START WHERE

You don’t have to start at the beginning. And you don’t have to spend a lot of time perfecting the principle because it will change once the rest of the book is out.

*MY WRITING OFTEN SURPRISES ME

Speaking of the book being released, it might sound a bit crazy, but I’m often amazed by the writing process. I know that many authors create meticulous outlines. I’m not one of them. Sometimes I’ll prepare an outline at the end of the game, to follow the movement and make sure it flows, but that’s about it.

I once talked about this being surprised thing in a screenwriting class. The teacher said, “You mean you say to yourself, ‘I can’t believe I just wrote that?’ Everyone laughed, including me.

But well, yes. I mean that. My characters take on a life of their own. They often talk to me in the shower or in the car; can sometimes be a bit crowded at both places. The story is suddenly going in a very different direction than I ever imagined. That’s where the magic happens.

*WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

“If I knew, I certainly wouldn’t tell you!” was Stephen King’s fascinating and unkind response to an interviewer who asked him this question. I thought he was being unreasonably cheeky until I realized that he was actually giving the answer: he doesn’t know. Writers and artists often don’t know where their ideas come from.

My response when someone asks me this question? “They just come.” My ideas seem to come at their own time and of their own volition from the ethers. I finished Life on Hollywood Lane a couple of months ago and I had no firm idea what my next book would be. Now I have several that appeared in the void created by finishing the previous book.

One of the fundamental principles of writing is to write about what you know. Taking experiences from my life and turning them into meaningful, impactful and inspiring stories is my main focus…and the ideas just pop.

*BACK TO THAT SPACIOUS THING

I fully understand why writers need to keep writing retreats. I am lucky that when the door to my writing room is closed, my family and visitors know to give me my time and space. Much of the writing involves what I call hatching.

I once had a job that involved writing, and I was brooding, needed to go to the bathroom, and interrupted my stream of thought as I walked down the hall. I hope my coworkers didn’t think I was too rude, but they probably did because I probably was. I grew up with a very creative father who had a hard time being interrupted, so I understand the creative process. However, many people do not understand it at all. “Oh, you can go back to that.” That is not true. The book or article will be written, of course, but an interruption can entertain an idea. Also, for those of us who get deep (and I do mean deep) into our flow it can be physically painful to have it break.

I get startled when someone walks in while I’m writing even a simple email; so absorbed (I was going to say lost, but I’m not lost, I’m right there) I get into whatever it is I’m doing. It’s definitely a high-level problem, to be sure, but it can be frustrating. Once I was working on a CD review and I was reading the lyrics, which were deeply moving and moving. He was completely absorbed in the words, truly transported to another world. Someone walked in (admittedly, it felt like a wild beast entering the room… like most writers, artists, and healers, I’m incredibly sensitive to energy), and I screamed at the top of my lungs. Okay, maybe I wasn’t that loud, but the person wasn’t amused.

I may be totally making this up, but I vaguely remember a crazy story about a writer who captured word clouds as they occurred to her. One time the cloud passed over her and she grabbed it, ran into the house and wrote the words from bottom to back (since the cloud passed over her)! I think I heard it from a famous writer like Julia Cameron or someone like that. (If you know who said this, I love if you let me know!)

Writers are a different breed of people…as are electricians, as are horsehair braiders, as are we all. But writers, creators, and healers definitely need to carve out time for uninterrupted breadth.

*USE ALL THE SENSES

Writing comes alive with texture, smell, taste and sound. Some writers (myself included) love telling the story more than writing the descriptions. But the latter helps the former get under the skin, become an experience lived rather than just read, and stays with us long after the book is done.

*WHAT TO DO WITH WRITER’S BLOCK

I don’t have much to say about this, because I really only write a book when I’m inspired, which is more and more often these days. The routine, along with the playlist, automatically gets me in the mood.

By far the hardest book for me to write was Spellweavers, which is about a healer during the witch hunt in Scotland. The parts were magical, so it was fun to write them. I finally wrote the hard part and finished it. But the book was still a difficult subject. I finally said to myself, “Okay, work on it twenty minutes a day.” Twenty minutes would turn out to be much more, of course; the main thing was to sit down and start.

Another difficult thing to write was the crucifixion in Mary’s message (about Mary Magdalene). Other parts were also difficult. I finally wrote them instead of fearing them. Once they were done, the rest of the book flowed.

*HOW LONG DOES A BOOK TAKE?

This is wild for me. I wrote watching in two weeks, it just came out in a download. Maria it took a summer. overtime angles it took a few years because I was working as an editor at a magazine, and my word power went into that job. I started Spellweavers in 2009 and would return to it from time to time; It took me a year when I finally got going in 2016. Life on Hollywood Lane it took about nine months. It can vary, as you can see.

SO IN CONCLUSION…

Have you noticed how many people start sentences with “So” these days? Even high-level news reporters do, along with most of their interviewees. Speakers at Toastmasters are clicked, even when they really mean, “So…”

But I digress. In fact, I have tried not to write. Being a writer can be a tall order, just like being a musician, actor, or anything else that doesn’t come with a dependable paycheck. But for me it is much more difficult not to write. Also, my characters would come in, hand on hip, tapping their foot, and they wouldn’t leave me alone until I had written their stories.

I write really great books, if I do say so myself and if I listen to the many people who rave about them. I’ve been involved with traditional publishers, but these days it’s more often recommended to go our own way with desktop publishing. That way we keep creative control and a much higher percentage of the money. Also, aside from JK Rowling and Dan Brown, authors are expected to do their own marketing anyway.

If writing is your art, let us read your words. Actually, anything we do can be a work of art: write a story, sing a song, raise a child, smile at the lonely neighbor, dunk a basketball…whatever it is, let us see it.

Our lives are our works of art, really. Follow whatever calls to your heart, do whatever you want to do, whatever we do best will benefit us and everyone around us, and that is for all of us.

Much of the muse is based on what I call magic… which is not some faraway quality that only a few people have. We all have magic. Let the magic turn on the muse. Then share your gift… we are waiting for you! What is your gift to share?