Advice is appreciated because I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know how to find the time or energy with which to do it. All I know is if I don't start now, time will continue to fly by, and then I'll be 101 years old and my moment will be gone.
I don't have many stories to tell today so I'm going to post some pictures. 9 out of 10 people love random cell phone pictures. If you're the 1 out of 10 that doesn't, you can voice your discontent in the comments, but please know I'm doing my best and it will hurt my feelings.
Seattle people. We all really look like this.
walking bike home with friends after dinner
proof Seattle loves the green stuff
butts on an escalator
people dancing in an empty room
barbeque in an alley
hanging out in a library
I have no idea
Perfect. All of life's goings-on with none of the time-consuming context. This should work just fine.
Now where's my damn pen...
MJ
First of all, you're not an ass.
ReplyDeleteTwo, you've got it backwards. You don't find time to write the book, you decide to write the book and then find time for everything else.
Seriously, if you really want to do this then you will make the time. Hells, you've had just a taste of the crazy that goes on down here in my nuthouse and I've written a bunch of them. (Last month they gave me a deadline of 2 days to write an entire children's book about disability awareness while homeschooling two autistic kids and I made it, so trust me on this one).
The hard part is not finding the time. It's actually all around you, waiting to be sucked into the vortex you create when you decide to start writing. The tricky bit is keeping your ass in that chair when your inner critic screams at you that you're a talentless hack who's wasting her time. It's the reason a lot of writers end up batshit crazy alcoholics :)
And last but certainly not least can I just do a mini-squeeeeeee that you're writing a book? SO. EXCITED.
I promise you that getting over the fear of starting is the hardest part. Well that, and everything in between. But man the finishing part is AWESOME.
Just start. Do it now.
Bec, you seriously kick ass!:)) And I'm not surprised to read that you're a published writer! Your comments are such a hoot!:)
DeleteHowdy Duchesse! Well aren't you sweet... ha, "written" doesn't equal "published", the kids book will be the first to feel itself slapped between two sheets of cardboard (to use Rebecca's phrase from down below there), the others are patiently waiting in the wings.
DeleteI have lots of experience in saying "I'm going to write a book", opening up a word document and then finding the hitherto unprecedented desire to clean the grout in the bathroom. I am not sure if that helps or not.
ReplyDeleteSeattle people look kinda cold. And fuzzy.
Glad to hear your are FINALLY doing it! Email me if you want to know what I did. :)
ReplyDeleteA book! At long last! Please, please, please tell me it will be about your experience in Paris!:)))
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ReplyDeleteNot to be super obvious and open myself up to scorn and ridicule, but you could send the whole blog from Paris straight to a publisher and it would already be a book. I would have bought it. In a way, I have bought it, but without spending any money, if you get my drift. But then again, I am lazy, so maybe you wanted to sit in coffee shops and come up with new stuff like JK Rowling and have angst and caffeine addiction. Anyways good luck!
ReplyDeletewhat FB said...and I think I said it too when I finally finished reading American Mom in Paris from beginning to end. Print it out, slap it between two pieces of cardboard....voila! instant book. Fame! Fortune! all coming your way...
ReplyDeleteYour Paris blog should be a book, what you did with that blog was you found your voice, the hardest part of being a writer. The rest will be cake, and I can't wait to buy it!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree. So that's solved.
ReplyDeleteMJ - you are in luck... I wrote a book on how to write a book (yes, really!) I wrote it from the perspective of being a life coach, coaching someone on how to write a book in the same way I'd coach anyone on ANY big life goal they want to achieve. I would be happy to send you a copy "on the maison", one expat blogger to another, if you're interested - I would just need your address and I'll send it to you via Amazon. Here's a link on Amazon if you want to read more about it before you decide:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Writing-Coachs-Guide-FINALLY-Your/dp/0595462790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336296741&sr=8-1
Either way I think you should go for it. It's not always easy (hell, I've been working on my 2nd book, a memoir based on my coming to France 5 years ago in my mid-40s, for the past couple of years, and something always seems to get in the way, but now I'm nearly done and am out there looking for publication. So I'm in the same boat, so to speak. YOU CAN DO IT!
I have to agree with all the above ladies: your Paris blog was more than book-worthy. I've never been so absorbed by a blog before, it was perfection!
ReplyDeleteYay!
ReplyDeleteLet's all channel the Nike slogan....... JUST DO IT! Can't wait for publication......
ReplyDeleteWell it finally happened! I knew even before you did that you must write a book and I want to preorder it now. Very happy about your decision even if it does mean less blog postings. Kathy in Iowa
ReplyDeleteOkay...listen girlie...I told you , I don't know 3 years ago you had a book in you...I agree with FB...slap a cover on the blog and that's it....ha.
ReplyDeleteseriously though you have a great "voice" and you made us all want to know what happens next so I'm sure you can do it...
plus..you could call it Fifty Shades of Paris...add some porn every 10 pages and bingo...instant best seller....
ps..love the pictures..does the lack of sunshine turn all Seattlites blue like that?
Write a book? I've thought the same thing (about you, not me).
ReplyDeleteI discovered your Paris blog 6 months ago and spent several weeks
reading the whole thing. Boy, did my lips hurt.
And just like some of the commenters have said, after I finished the
blog, I felt like I had just read a wonderful book.
To paraphrase Hemingway and several other authors,
"The secret of writing is in the rewriting"
Just like bread baking. You make the dough and let it
rest, then come back and work it some more.
Then get dough from the book publishers. Clever huh?!
As a pre-requisite, before you do anything, you must read
'Holy Cow' by Sarah MacDonald. This is your twin sister
whom you were seperated at birth. She is as funny and
entertaining as you. She's not even a writer.
Both of you have similar writing styles.
She spent 2 years in India and wrote wonderfully about it.
You spent 2 years in Paris and already have written wonderfully
about it.
Go for it! No need to rush anything. And deciding the
theme is first. Paris, or something else.
I'd definitely have bought your Paris blog as a book and then bought more to give as gifts. Print it, read the posts and start writing. Let your old stories prompt new stories. Plenty of material left. Let me know when it's available to pre-order.
ReplyDeleteWow. How do I find your Paris blog?
ReplyDeletehttp://americanmominparis.blogspot.com/
DeleteEnjoy!:)
Go write, make us laugh, make us cry, YOU CAN DO IT!
ReplyDelete