What No One Told Me About Writing

While I can never think of anything profound when people ask for writing advice, I often find little things that I wish I'd known sooner. Sometimes we learn best through our own experience. But there are some simple writing realities that no one told me about. Today I'm going to share the love and tell you in advance.

No matter where you are on your writing journey, I believe there's always something to learn. Of course, you can't learn everything in advance (although that might be nice??). Maybe my list has things you had handled, but here are some things that surprised me when I became a serious writer.

Sometimes you'll be unable to write. Um ... wut? This is a biggie! Writing is kinda in the name of what you do. Yet, I can't tell you how many times I open up a document and sit there. The cursor and I have a staring contest. Maybe I get a few words, lines, paragraphs ... tweak some things? But very rarely do I get the "sit down and write a chapter" experience. Everyone writes differently, but I think we all have these moments. They're not fun.

Prayer is a gigantic ingredient. This sounds simple, but I really wish I'd found this out sooner when writing Martin Hospitality. I'd never prayed before when writing (?). But when it came to writing a full novel with spiritual themes that I said was my ministry ... yeah, prayer comes in handy! duh And it wasn't just "helpful." It was completely essential. As in, I cannot even take credit for a lot of the book as a result, especially the themes.

Yes, God helped me a lot even before I asked Him, but it wasn't until I got stuck and desperate that I thought it might be worth asking Him for a leg up and BOOM. His presence throughout the book is what I noticed when I reread it. It's amazing to read my own words and know I cannot take credit. There is nothing I want more as a writer.

Don't rely just on yourself. That's a huge part of what I learned from finally praying about my book. Book writing requires a miracle more or less (see the point above), and a lot of hard work. Hard work is exhausting. So the more help you can get, the better. As the writer, it's still your name on the front. All help means is you have a whole host of people to thank in your acknowledgments because they saved your sanity. Books aren't meant to be written by just one person. In fact, I don't think such a book exists.

Writing is super personal. Ew. I'm a huge internalizer and not a fan of emotions or ... anything. I'm willing to tell you facts about myself, but I'm not one to share my problems. So perhaps it's better I didn't know this one in advance. Because my books, which felt like such distant, fun little stories as I wrote, ended up somehow telling parts of my own struggles and giving me a clearer picture of myself. I've never written "my story," but as an author, I inevitably share a soul with my books. That's part of how they give such glory to God. And part of why publishing is so scary.

Distractions are everywhere. Yikes. I think we all learn this one. But it's crazy how often I don't write when that's what I've sat down to do. This is different than "can't write" mentioned above because this time it's on me. Find some habits for focus that work for you and use that writing time wisely!

Writing the book is actually the easy but still very hard part. Not gonna lie. I thought writing would be easier than it was. I definitely thought self-publication would be easier than it was. I think I set out with a mindset geared more for traditional publication in that I was very writing-focused. That was my field, and I was going to do well in order to impress everyone and have a great story.

The technical side of self-publishing?? *shrug* I wanted to self-publish for the control, but I had no idea how much research "having control" was going to take. Endless decisions!!! ISBNs? Literally figured that out one month before publishing. Formatting and cover design?? Hired out, and even that was a process. Scheduling? Biggest pain in the entire world.

All in all, it's a learning process. Don't let me intimidate you; it's all worth it. As in very, very worth it. But writing, at least for publication, is one big learning curve. That's part of what makes it fun. And that's part of what makes it intense and subject to change. (Still working on that sequel, you guys.)

It all comes down to you've got this. Just don't be surprised when things are bigger and better and more vast than you could have imagined. Get your hands dirty writing and publishing a book!

Writing is crazy and personal and subjective. What did you have to learn the hard way? Where are you in your writing journey? Talk to me, peeps!