How I got started...

Frequently, someone will say to me, “I always wanted to write a book, but I just can’t find the time.”

I was there, too. I had the idea for Time Limits and I would work on it every two months or so for an entire day. But I spent a lot of time each session trying to remember what I was thinking and planning to do. It was frustrating to get so little done, but rewarding to get something done.

My solution came almost as a miracle. My sister Laura took me to church with her and the theme was “The Time of Your Life”. The thrust of it all was to make good use of what time we have on this earth. On the way home, I told Laura I should finish my book. She agreed and we stopped at Starbuck’s for coffee.

Sitting there in the store with our coffee, we continued our discussion. Suddenly, the man sitting next to me said, “Sorry to eavesdrop, but I’m an author and, if you’re not writing every day, you’re kidding yourself.”

The stranger (now friend) was Shane Etter, author of Bottom Dwellers and several other books. This was the best piece of advice I ever got.

I didn’t have much time. I was working sixty hours a week in my computer consulting practice. But I really wanted to write my story.

I’m not saying you need to do this, but this is how I approached it. I committed to write for 30 minutes a day, no matter what else I got accomplished each day. Later, as I got better managing my time, I upped it to 45 minutes a day. In four months, I had a first draft of my novel.

The serendipity of writing every day was that I didn’t need to spend any time getting back up to speed. I remembered where I left off yesterday and was able to make good progress every day.

I sincerely believe that, once you have an idea for a story in mind, you could spend 30 minutes a day and have a novel-sized first draft in six months.

So give it some thought if you’ve been thinking about writing a book. Just start doing it and commit to doing a little every day.

Until next time….

Cheers and Regards,

Kim