Six Things I Learned When I Was Writing My First Book
Writing a book will almost kill you. By the end, you will be exhausted, your brain will die and filled with seething feelings of anxiety. I recently finished my first book , and here are a few test lessons that can be applied to just about any large-scale project.
Choose your tools and organize them before you start
Books are complicated. It doesn’t matter if it’s a technical manual, nonfiction or fiction, keeping track of everything takes a lot of effort, and that’s why there is special software to help you with this.
After trying out a bunch of different software, I settled on Ulysses (although Scrivener is excellent as well as Evernote ) to keep things organized. Ulysses has a great export system where you can define how formatting works, so it can be easily turned into a Word document with the specific formatting options the publisher wants (and they always need a specific format regardless of the book type).
More importantly, Ulysses (and similar apps) have a built-in note system, a library system for keeping track of various chapters and other notes, a fantastic focus mode that cuts down on clutter, statistics to track word counts, and write goals to make sure your word has value every day. It was these statistics that saved my ass when I realized that in the remaining month I was not going to count my page and I needed to add additional chapters.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter which tool you use, but pick something before you start and stick with it. Expect your notes, sketches, and everything else to become a cluttered, unreadable mess if you don’t create a system to handle them ahead of time.
Make a schedule and stick to it
This is the most common advice on the planet, so I won’t dwell on it, but before you start writing, make yourself a timetable.
It was pretty easy for me because I really didn’t have that much time to get going. I worked here at Lifehacker full-time, so I knew that I could only devote time to writing a book in the evenings and on weekends. To avoid unnecessary stress, I’ve set Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after work as work days, along with Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I have set a deadline for myself for each week. I had about three months to turn 350 pages, so I had to strictly adhere to my schedule.
Whether you have an external deadline or not, I suggest sticking to a similar plan. Give yourself a deadline if no one else does, and try to write (or at least work on the book in some capacity) at the time you have planned for it.
Expect it to take longer than you think
The schedule is excellent, but be prepared for the fact that everything you do will take significantly longer than you think. This is especially true at the beginning, before you start writing.
In my case, it was mainly about formatting. Learning what formatting a publisher wants and reading every other paragraph of their style guide seriously slows you down. Until you get the hang of it, it will take twice as long as it should.
Since my book is a collection of Raspberry Pi projects, it also meant that I had to actually do everything in the book, fix the problems, and get the projects working as expected before I wrote anything. I didn’t think about it during the initial planning phase and quickly realized that I wasn’t spending enough time on myself. To accommodate this, I had to completely redesign my schedule.
This is a special case, but the same problem occurs in other aspects of writing. Research always takes a little longer than you think, and sometimes simple brainstorming. Give yourself the freedom to make these mistakes and give yourself plenty of time for those moments.
Don’t get attached to anything
In fiction there is a common saying that one must prepare to “kill your loved ones.” It’s about removing sentences or words that you like for more value from your work. But there is more to it than that. In fact, be prepared to cut out entire paragraphs and chapters – I cut out huge sections before sending them off for editing.
And that’s just your own editing – your editor will cut out even more. When I started getting notes from my editor, I quickly realized that I couldn’t take these edits personally. Obviously, the book on the Raspberry Pi is different from the fiction here, but the basic premise remains the same: you will be mercilessly edited. Accept this. I was so passionate about writing this book that I often wrote in strange, privatized language that was clearly the result of too much hard work. Towards the end, I became a Raspberry Pi: small, low-powered, and slightly isolated from the rest of the world. The chapters that followed did not make sense, and the notes sent to me are best summarized like this: “What are you talking about here ?!”
The fact is that you will fill your head with text so much that you will not be able to see the world around you. Your editor will help you fix this. Take their word for it. The criticism is sometimes overwhelming, but when it comes from someone outside of the weird little bubble you create for yourself while working on long-term projects, it’s always valuable.
A good group of friends will make things easier.
The Beatles , theSpice Girls andKanye have said that : friends can help you get through everything. This is especially true when you work during the hours that I had. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a few close friends made the whole process a lot easier by simply making me dinner or kicking me out of the house every now and then.
You can’t make good friends just because you want to write a book, but it’s worth knowing how much you will lean on them. I’m not saying that you should go and ask everyone you know to cook dinner for you. Talk to your close friends about the fact that you won’t be available as often, but you still want to chat. Plan. They’ll understand, and if they’re good enough friends, you’ll probably get a few dinners anyway.
It’s addictive
What I didn’t expect was that I would want to write another book right after I finish. Like a good roller coaster, as soon as you get off the road, you will want to sit down again. As soon as I finished everything, made the final edits and approved the last proofreads, I immediately started brainstorming what I want to do next.
You still need to take a real break , but that doesn’t mean you can’t start laying the foundation for any next project. When I finish a big project, my brain is usually filled with so many ideas that I can’t keep track of everything. I don’t need to bring these ideas to life, but I need to write them down so that I can come back to them later.
When you are emotionally uplifted by patting yourself on the back for a job well done, take the time to throw these ideas into your head. If you don’t, chances are good that they will disappear forever.