2 Must haves:

Authors need: Courage and Access to anything that lets you write, pen, paper, computer, typewriter.

 

 

  -Left Image, my trusty, but old laptop.

 

 

 

 

 

To the right is my new, old Remington Standard– Typewriter.

 

 

 

If you opened this blog looking for the magic Wand that will make you the perfect Author, here it is.

Authors need:

 

1. Courage

All authors need Courage to write and create books. Writing can look like a daunting dark tunnel and trust me, it can be at times. Which is why courage is the first step in becoming an author.  That’s all you need to start your author career.

Don’t believe me? That’s alright, sometimes the truth seems unbelievable.

Stories can only be shared with people if you write it. Before you can write the story, you overcome many obstacles. The biggest obstacle is usually fear.

 

Fear manifests itself in many ways in your life. It could be anything from that negative Nancy voice in your head that tells you “You’re not good enough.” Or that relative who loves shattering dreams into a million pieces. A family member or two, maybe even your friends. Look around you, fear is everywhere. We humans are vulnerable and most of us despise showing that vulnerability to others. But the thing is, in order to share your stories with the world you must be vulnerable.

 

One of the biggest struggles for me while I was working on Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits was the fear of hate. Hate from people who were close to me, from family, the small town community I lived in and from strangers. If I release my book into the world what if someone hates me for it? This is where I would stop writing, and stare at the bright screen of my phone. Trying very hard to ignore the fears that were overwhelming me. I wanted to write and share this story. Heck, I was practically at the last chapter of the draft when I ran into this terrifying fear. What if my story isn’t good enough? What if I’ve spent that past half a year writing piffle that no one will want to publish or read because it’s not original enough. How will I cope with myself if the town turns against me and hates me for this book? What if…

 

Have you noticed the fear of ‘what if’ in your life? How quickly a joyful filled morning of writing can turn into an afternoon of panic attacks. You hesitate to write, your thoughts rushing around like leaves in a windstorm. And before you know if you have wasted your day worrying over things that have not happened and may never happen. Fear, it is a sneaky son of a gun.

 

It takes courage to put pen to paper to create a book. Courage to finish that book, knowing how much soul and energy you put into it and hand it over to the world to read. Once people read your book, guess what comes next–reviews. Not only do you write and share your vulnerable stories but you have to take the reviews that come with it. This is a true fear of becoming an author. That is why I say it takes Courage to write that book.

 

Tips for you Authors!

 

When this fear and any fear pops up for you along your writing journey I want you to battle the fear with this statement: Who could benefit from my book? How many people can your book help if they read it?

 

With all the fear floating around authors need to remember there are major benefits for you and others when you write books. It might not be a life changing book every time but you never know who can and will benefit from it in the end. So, why not write and publish your book? You won’t know until you go for it. Write that book and tell fear that you have other and more important questions to answer.

 

 

2. Access to anything that allows you to write.

 

This one is self explanatory. If you can’t write then you can’t write. Thankfully we live in the modern-day world of computers, laptops, and cell-phones. That is something we all can be grateful for.

 

Random short story: A few weeks ago, in early December of 2021. Our small town in Kansas was hit by a severe wind storm. The wind was so bad it knocked out the town’s power for over 5 hours. Thank-goodness we live next to a large power plant, otherwise it would have been an all day and night power-outage. While the power was out I had a few hours to re-live pre-lightbulb days. I lit every single candle in my apartment, creating a soft cozy environment at my desk. I would usually open my laptop to start writing, but since it is old the battery dies within an hour if it is not on life support…bummer. To my good newer cell phone I go–battery at 32%. Why did I spend so much time texting people today? Darn you anxiety! Once the storm hit the town my anxiety hit hard and I reached out to the family who lived in less protected areas. Thankfully they are all safe even with the bad storm. There were a few houses I could just imagine flying away in the Wizard of Oz® style. After all, I am in Kansas. I had too. Any who–I digress. Basically, I had no electronic device to use for writing at the time, but I had a pen and notebooks. Plenty of markers as well as fun colored gel pens. That got me thinking, what would I do If I didn’t have paper or pen? How would I relay my stories? Spending the next hour or so I looked around my humble apartment and thought of a few ways I could relay my story if I had no pen, paper, or computer. I guess the moral of this short-ish story is no matter where you are or what you don’t have, you can always find a way to share your story. Sometimes you just need to be creative. And God bless modern-day conveniences.

 

Never take your writing tools for granted. They are the very objects that allow you to create and share your stories. Appreciate them.

Tips for the Author!

 

Tips for you Authors!

Top 3 free programs every New Author Needs:

 

For Samsung and Windows users you have:

 

1. Google drive/ google docs. (Highly recommend)

Use a blank page(doc–new), format it with title and 11 or 12 sized text and start writing. Don’t forget to double space your text. Google docs are free to use and from my experience unlimited blank pages to write on. Plus conveniently saved in your google drive in your Gmail.

 Google docs are also available to save in different formats, such as pdf and plain text. It also allows you to share your doc with other people.

 

This share feature: has been a huge help especially for me and my editor. We work together on different computers but the same document. Allowing me to make the changes, as my editor directs me.

 

1. Gmail

It’s not the most Ideal way of writing but it does work. Open an email, write then send it to yourself.

 

1. Notepad app

Most computers and some cell phones come with a notepad app for free. You can type and save the note to your computer.

 

I highly recommend the google docs for writing. You can format the pages and even choose a few different options from their free templates. Out of the three I use google docs the most and have rarely had any problems with it.

Don’t forget to double space your text! Go to FORMAT–LINE AND SPACING–DOUBLE.

Now you have a few free places to write with and some bonus info about how to format your pages. Now, get back to writing that book!

 

This post was all about: All Authors need is to be courageous and write on. You have no clue the amount of lives your book might affect in amazing ways. And the only way to find out is to write and release that book of yours.

 

Thank you for reading until the end. As a new blogger any and all support is appreciated and welcome.

 

Write on~

Cecilia