Charlie Laidlaw, author and tutor, looks at getting started.
Many of us wish we could write a book.
Maybe it’s a story for a novel that’s been swirling around in our heads for years.
Or maybe it’s the story of your family, something to treasure and hand down.
Or simply an autobiography, to leave behind something of yourself and the life lessons you’ve learned.
But, according to one survey, 97% of people who start to write a book never finish it.
However, I don’t know if that statistic is entirely accurate, but it’s certainly true that there are a lot of frustrated authors out there.
Pressures
And it doesn’t matter how that book is published, either self-published or traditionally published. We all have an innate desire to leave something behind.
But I suspect that for many people, there are always competing pressures on their time. Work, family and friends all get in the way.
For others, it’s procrastination, and thinking that I’ll get around to it tomorrow, or next week.
Because the simple fact is that we can all write. It’s one of the first skills we learn at school. But the trouble is that most of us either believe we are better writers than we really are, or lack the confidence to realise how good we could be.
The trick is to understand what makes great writing, and to practice, practice, practice.
Get started
My advice is not to think of writing a book as a monumental task. It’s something that can be taken slowly. Maybe just 30 minutes every day.
The important thing is to get started, and have the confidence to write well.
That’s what Creating Writers is all about. Giving you the skills and confidence.
Because, when I first started writing my first novel, it took me years of going down dead-ends. I wasn’t sure what I was doing.
I didn’t know the arc of the book or the interplay between characters. Over the years, I have learned my trade the hard way.
One way I would have benefited would have been to go on a creative writing course.
Strategies
So, that’s the reason for Creating Writers because I don’t want other authors to make the same mistakes that I did.
Because, like becoming a plumber, doctor or engineer, becoming a writer is a skill that has to be learned.
In the past, creative writing was all self-taught. Now it doesn’t have to be.
That’s why our courses are designed to give you strategies and ideas to help you become a better writer. To help you understand the elements that go into creating a readable book. To help you avoid going down time-consuming dead-ends, as I did.
And it’s all online, but with real face-to-face personal teaching. You learn at your own pace because we know you may have other things on your plate.
And if you sign up for our Diploma course, you get a real qualification. Something that could help you in your business or professional life.
Because, most of all, we just want you to both start and finish that book you’ve always wanted to write.
Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash