Why Write...now?

One thing I'm proud about is that I picked up writing when I was young. I mean, serious writing. I know writers that have decided to finally write that book once they retired. Everyone of them regret waiting so long. Sure, there are reasons that people wait, they have children, family, they have to work full time to support themselves and their families. All noble causes.

But, does writing a book take that much time?

How long have I been writing? Let's see, this will take some math. I'm thirty-three now, I started three years ago. Wait, no math at all. God, I'm really tired.

Okay, three years. Now, in that time, I have written three full books, one half, three short stories, and a few poems. Before that, nada. I have one published book and one published short story that I am (and my family) extremely proud of. And, I am working on getting my next book published. I can use that self-esteem the rest of my life.

Now, you may be wondering, how much of my precious life has that taken up?

Surprisingly little.

Once you have a great novel idea, it only takes about a month of writing everyday (10 minutes/100 words) to get into the habit of writing it. That's like a daily blog. Once you get into the HABIT of writing, build up the number of WORDS you write a day. 100 --> 300 --> 500 --> 1000... that should take a month or two. For me, it takes about an hour or two to write 1000 words. Tops. And for most novels, I only write from 1000-2000 words a day because I have a family to take care of -- that's two hours a day (and I do it at night when my kids are sleeping.)

For an average 90,000 word novel, that three months. If you're like my family, you probably spend that much time a month on Facebook's Farm Town.

So, to sum up, START WRITING! Don't wait. You may regret the 90 hours you played FarmTown this year, but you won't regret the 90 hours it took you to write a book.