Write a Book
I don't know who needs to hear this, but you should really write a book.
A few summers ago, on a beach in North Carolina, I met a woman who expressed her desire to write a book. She told me all about how she's had this idea for a book since she was in her twenties, and now that she's retired, she's looking forward to putting pen to paper.
I haven't heard from her since that summer, but I hope she did it. I really do hope she wrote that book.
I'm a person who likes to consider myself a writer. I have a degree in writing, I wrote professionally for the military, and I spend a fair amount of time writing when I have the opportunity.
With that said, I am not much of a creative writer. As much as I wish I had the chops for it, I'm just not good at writing fiction. Every time I see my story ideas written out, I hate them. My dialogue sounds childish, my settings are vague, and I'm not good at fleshing out my characters. Plus, I simply lack the discipline and patience to write a novel.
I don't think I'm alone in any of that.
Admittedly, this might be my imposter syndrome talking. I know I'm a better writer than most. However, nothing I write is anything I'd personally like to read. The concepts might be intriguing to me, but my fiction writing voice is not one I have any interest in reading.
I suspect a lot of writers feel this way about their work.
We often think the hardest part of writing is sitting down and putting words on the page. I'm not sure that's the case, though. I think the hardest part of writing is confronting our own words. It's hard to look at the words we spent so much time agonizing over, just to realize that our meticulously crafted sentences fall flat upon review. It takes an incredibly brave person to let others read your writing–especially when you think it sucks.
That's why editors are so important. You've got the words down, but you hate them. They aren't coming across the way you want them to. You don't like the way your characters come off. You can't seem to fill in the empty spaces in the plot. You're struggling to think of unique dialogue. You're spending too much time telling instead of showing.
But if you're brave enough to share your crappy manuscript with an editor, they can help bring out the best in it. They can help you flesh out your story. A good editor can amplify the parts of your voice that you like, while refining the parts you can't seem to get out right.
When the words are there, but the magic isn't, editors step in. We help to bring out the magic behind your words.
Writing a book is a valiant effort. Sharing what you write is unbelievably brave.
You should do it.
I believe in you.
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