The hardest personal goal I set for myself was back in the early 2000’s when I was in the beginning stages of writing my first novel. I set a goal for myself to finish it in 2004. I had started writing it in 1999. Well, twenty years afterwards in 2019 I finished and published it. Writing your first book is not an easy feat. Maybe for some beginning writers it is but for many it is not.
So what makes publishing that first book so difficult? It’s everything we don’t know that we need to know and have yet to learn. Add to that a full time job and raising a family. We do our best. I did take my time with that book because there were times I didn’t feel like writing. There were times I needed time to think about how I wanted the story to get to where I wanted it to go. Then, a large chunk of my manuscript got deleted when the hard drive on my computer went bad. Essentially, I started over. I am so glad I did because the story was better as a result.
Learning the ins and outs of writing a book along the way took time as well, which included learning how I write. Am I a planner or a pantser? Getting to know myself is what I call this. I did figure all of this out by the way. Now that doesn’t mean I know everything there is to know about writing a book. No one ever knows everything there is to know. It’s a ongoing process, so we are continuous learners.
I should never have made the goal of finishing my first book to be in 2004. That wasn’t realistic. Not for a first time novelist. Hence the most difficult goal I ever set for myself.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 