Chapter Four: The Birth of Your Book - Writing Component
But if you are writing because you love writing, there are a few tools which you might find useful in this journey of yours.
Tools you can use to write. Of course, there are many more but these are the ones I have used.
Ø Word, nothing beats MS-Word or Pages in Mac.($69 to $149)
Ø Scrivener ($45 but if you complete 50k words in the Nano month of November, you get rebates)
Ø Evernote ($34.99)
Ø Y-Writer (Free)
Ø Onenote (Free)
Ø Google Docs (Free)
Things to do every day before you start writing:
Avoid distractions: Very easy to say but very hard to achieve. There are few tools I use to cut off the people around me while writing. Don’t laugh but sometimes noise itself is the best form of keeping distractions at bay. Here are two sites for you.
Ø Nosily (Free)
Ø Hipster Sound (Free)
So just plug in your earphone sand start writing.
Keep your inner editor at bay but don’t kill it: The writing process is the lengthiest of all. Many feel that while writing you should kill your inner editor. But I would suggest (from experience) resurrect it from time to time and read what you have written. Too many errors make you lose interest in your own writing.
Stay connected with your work: There will be many times when you feel you are going in a wrong direction and your characters are not behaving as you want them to behave. Take a step backward. Go to a movie or meet with friends. Just chill. And return. Always return. Don’t take too long a gap or that work of yours will be shelved. Keep one thing in mind always. A writer sits on their bums and writes. I wish there was another way to express this. There isn’t.
At this stage of your work, keep all your marketing ideas or search at bay. Marketing is a very daunting business and if you feel that a hurdle is ahead of you, you will lose your interest. One step at a time is the best way to finish your novel.
Don’t even think of formatting your doc: formatting can be very distracting and if you justify your document at this stage, it will make you overlook many errors. The best thing would be to keep your formatting off and keep the document left justified.
Keep all your digital equipment away from your writing desk: Treat writing like a 9 am to 5 pm job. Even if you do it for an hour or two. While you are writing, try your best to avoid looking into your phone or emails. Facebook and Twitter are things to avoid. All those likes can wait. I know, I know, it’s easy to advise but hard to follow but hey you know what, whenever you are distracted, close your eyes and imagine your book cover and on that book cover, your name. It’s very motivating to go on.
Take breaks and sleep on it: Sleep, however much as a writer you want to avoid it, it is a must. People think I don’t sleep at all. If only you all knew that I can sleep at the drop of a hat. I don’t need much sleep out of habit but whenever I get a chance, I do take power naps. Sometimes, when an idea is stuck in your head and you just can’t translate it on paper, take a nap. Nothing clears your mind like a good sleep. Lack of sleep will make you lose not only your interest but also your objectivity.
So here is the moment where I tell you - Happy Writing!
Other Booklets in this ToolKit series
Check out Devika Fernando's Booklet Why go Indie?
Check out D R Downer's Booklet A to Z of Ghostwriting
Check out Sundari Venkatraman's booklet
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