Today, we’ve got a guest post from my friend Connie Cockrell, who is sharing how she got started writing. Enjoy!
I started writing in November, 2011. In mid-October, 2011, my daughter, Elizabeth, had just come home from her friends house and was all excited about an on-line event called National Novel Writing Month. This young woman was encouraging my daughter to join in the fun. Elizabeth explained that starting on November 1st, you started writing a novel. It had to be finished by November 30th. That meant writing at least 1667 words a day.
I said, “How hard can that be?”
She said, “Well, if you think it’s that easy, you try it.”
Now, I’d tried writing on and off for years. All of it went into the bit bucket. But I was willing to try again. I said, “I don’t know how to write a novel.”
“Wait,” she said. Then she hurried into her room and a few seconds later, (it’s a small house), she came out and handed me a book. It was Larry Brooks book, Story Engineering.
I took it and looked it over. It wasn’t a thick book and the chapters were laid out in a step one, two, three fashion, so I said, “OK. But you have to write too.”
She nodded and I started reading the book. I had two weeks to read the book and plan out what I was going to do.
To be honest, I loved Story Engineering. It described writing as done by a film writer (which is what Larry Brooks did), it four acts instead of the usual three acts of a stage production but that was okay by me.
So I sped read the book and bought a pack of sticky notes and started. On the back of the computer room (also craft room, dumping spot for things we didn’t know what to do with, and office), door, I started four columns, one for each act. I figured to write 50,000 words by the end of November I needed 40 – 50 sticky notes with a chapter idea on each one.
I think by the end of October I only had 30 notes and at least two of the columns were barely populated but on November 1st I started and figured by the time I got to those spots, an idea would present itself. Well, it did. By November 30th, I’d passed 50,000 words and the novel was complete.
My daughter, you ask? She got stuck where most writers do, in the middle, with nearly 26,000 words, she dropped her project. I now have 20 published books and at least 7 books in draft.
It can be done, with a little diligence and perseverance and a willingness to let your sub-conscience or muse or creative mind, whatever you call it, have free rein while you’re writing. You’ll be glad you did.
An Air Force career, computer operations company manager, wife, mother, sister and volunteer, provides a rich background for Connie Cockrell’s stories. After 20 books, inclusion in 5 anthologies and published on EveryDayStories.com and FrontierTales.com, Connie’s still on the lookout for a good story idea. Beware, you may be next.