This post is by Gene Perret.
Having a book idea on a topic you’re passionate about is a glorious feeling. You begin work on such a project filled with passion and zeal. You’re eager to pass your thoughts on to your readers. However, writing a book is a daunting, time-consuming task. It’s important to maintain your enthusiasm until the book is finished.
Writing Momentum Can Help You Maintain Enthusiasm
We often hear about momentum in sports. When a team is on a roll, they want to keep the impetus going as long as they can. They don’t want any time-outs, injuries, or delays. They want to keep pushing, driving, thrusting. The same can be true in writing a book. You attack the keyboard loaded with enthusiasm. You write with passion. You’ve got the momentum on your side. Just like the athletes, you want to keep on writing.
So once you begin writing, try to continue to write. Avoid any delays in your writing schedule. That doesn’t mean you must write continuously, but you should strive to write consistently. Putting off the writing of your book for too long a period can destroy your enthusiasm. It’s like when you vow to call a friend. You put it off for a week, then another week, and soon, you’ve postponed it for so long you’re almost embarrassed to call. To maintain your momentum, your passion, your zeal, work on your book regularly. Don’t allow too much time to pass between writing sessions.
Writers Can Destroy Their Enthusiasm by Being Too Critical of Their Writing Too Early
Ironically, our own enthusiasm can serve to dampen our enthusiasm. We want so badly to write well that we become discouraged with our results. We say to ourselves, “This is not as good as I intended it to be, therefore why should I continue?” We must make an effort to be more forgiving of our first draft. After all, it is simply a first draft. Remind yourself that you were passionate about this project and you will have time to rewrite, polish, and refine your writing.
Strangely enough, there are times when your writing seems to improve on its own. Your evaluation of your efforts is often tainted by many variables—the mood you’re in on a particular day, other situations that are affecting you, sometimes even the weather. Your assessment of your own writing on such days can be rather grim. However, if you put that writing in a drawer for a few days, you might discover that when you review it later on—when you’re in a more pleasant state of mind—the writing has magically transformed into something worthwhile.
Be forgiving. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and continue your writing. Make a sincere effort to recapture that zeal you had when you began this project. Even if your output is disappointing occasionally, remember all writers have good days and bad days, mediocre days and superb days. Try not to destroy your devotion to a worthwhile project simply because some of your writing might be improved.
Writers Can Often Be Insecure About Their Work
I remember working on a comedy TV script. Our writing staff were doing rewrites until the early morning hours. At about two in the morning, we had only one more joke to add into the revised script. Finally, someone ad-libbed a line and we all laughed at it. We were eager to type it into the script, wrap the project up, and go home. The writer doing the typing couldn’t resist doing a little joke, though. He turned to the cleaning lady who had come into the office to mop floors and said, “Sarah, what do you think of that joke?” She said, “I think you’re reaching a bit.” We dropped that line and kept on working. That’s how insecure writers can be.
Write Your Book Now! (affiliate link)
Others can easily destroy our enthusiasm, too. We should guard our work and our zeal as ferociously as we can. Aunt Mabel may read our manuscript and say, “Well, it didn’t knock my socks off.” Aunt Mabel may know little if anything about writing, but her negative critique could prompt us to abandon our project.
As writers, we should not permit this. It’s quite easy to prevent. Aunt Mabel can’t say anything disparaging about our manuscript if she never sees the pages. This is a work-in-progress. As we said earlier, all of your writing may not be scintillating. Some days your writing may just be competent. In fact, your competent writing may suffer in comparison to your scintillating writing. All of it is subject to revision, rewriting, and definite improvement. Protect your enthusiasm by allowing only people whose opinion you trust and whose comments you believe will aid you in completing your book and enhancing your writing to see your work. Let Aunt Mabel wait and read the signed copy you present to her after your book has been published.
There will be times when writing becomes a struggle. There will be setbacks and disappointments. Fatigue will set in. Writing a book is a delightful chore, but it is a chore nonetheless. There will come times when only your original fervor will pull you through. So try to maintain that enthusiasm and rely on it to pull you through to the final chapter.
About the Author: Gene Perret is the author of over forty books, including the top-selling book on comedy, The New Comedy Writing Step by Step, and his new book Write Your Book Now! Gene has won three Emmy Awards and one Writer’s Guild Award.
