How to write your first novel
During my first year of university, I decided I wanted to write a novel. So I thought about a story, opened up a word document and—BOOM—believe it or not, two years later the novel was still unwritten.
After years of writing consistently in the gaps of a busy life, I think I found a set of tricks that work very well for me, keeping my writing nearly consistent even during the most challenging times.
The 5 stages of Novel Writing
2021 started without a major project. I had time to polish a few short stories and learn more about the craft of writing, yes, but I was yearning for a new novel I could fall in love with.
You could say that, in a sense, I was grieving the absence of a worthwhile big commitment; something that would last for months, or years, and that required tons of research, frustration, euphoria, self-doubt and courage.
How to Set Writing Goals
If you don't have a 50,000 words manuscript saved on your preferred cloud storage service, you have failed NaNoWriMo. You've set a too ambitious writing goal and for some reason, you couldn't deliver. Just like me.