“I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyway.” This is my new motto in life, and it is a pretty great mindset to live by. Anyhow, I am writing my first book (and it is freaking terrifying).
Welcome to the first instalment of my Aspiring Author Chronicles.
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Why Am I Doing This?
I have three main reasons.
Number 1: The Old Self Regenerated
I have this theory: At some point in your adult life, you will heal into your childhood self.
My childhood self loved writing fiction and poems.
Writing was more than a hobby to me. I used to gift people poems on their birthdays, and I wrote (a very bad) fictional novel by hand in my free time. No, it will never see the light of day.
Number 2: Making My Maladaptive Daydreaming Productive
What started as me daydreaming stories for fun quickly turned into a crutch.
I’d spend hours creating detailed characters and stories in my head to escape real life. This is not something I share lightly, but I think some of you can relate ♥.
I figured the dozens of stories that live rent-free in my head should be put down on paper.
Number 3: Write What I Want To Read
This is the main reason of my main reasons.
I’d come to a point where I put down published books because I preferred my own stories.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read some amazing books. But none of them made me feel the way my stories do. At the end of the day, I have a deeper emotional connection to my characters.
Then there is the topic of spice. The kind of books I gravitate towards, i.e., high emotional stakes or darker characters, tend to have spice.
I want to write those kinds of books with the same yearning and heartache, minus the spice.
The Hardest Parts So Far
Writing my first book brings many challenges and opportunities to grow. Here are some of the things I am struggling with:
- Fear that people will judge me
- Comparing my first draft with established authors’ published work
- Self-doubt and imposter syndrome
On the technical side:
- FLESHING OUT THE PLOT. My stories tend to be more character-driven than plot-driven
- TENSES. For those of you who don’t know, English is not my first language. And staying within one tense has been the bane of my existence.
- WORDS. I would love a word count of 75k – 80k, but it isn’t an easy feat to add that much to a story without it feeling like fluff.
- PUBLISHING. We’ll get into that more later.
What To Expect From My Stories
My books might be your cup of coffee if you like the following:
- Character-driven stories
- Extreme yearning
- Slow burn galore
- High emotional stakes
- Spice-free, clean romances
- Some of my stories include morally dark gray characters
- I also have books in mind that will cover serious topics (addiction, death, etc.)
My Current Project
I am currently 41k words into my first draft. Now, I don’t want to give away too much about the book I am working on right now. But here are a couple of things I can share.
- Small town romance
- Ex convict x single mom
- Second chance romance
- We will deal with serious topics
- Possible spin-offs with other characters
My next project is possibly a clean mafia romance (those are so hard to find).
Other book-ish posts you might like:
The Plan Moving Forward
I have two options when it comes to publishing:
- Traditional publishing, and
- Self publishing
Currently, I am leaning toward self-publishing because I don’t want to wait years to be signed by a publisher.
The downside? I have to finance the entire project, including an editor, cover designer, etc.
With that in mind, I want my version of the book finished by December 2026, and then I’ll tackle editing, etc., in 2027.
Writing Resources
I am using a few resources whilst writing my first book.
- NOTEBOOK. For basic outlines, character mapping, chapter ideas, and so forth.
- NOTION. For creating character cards with photos and information about characters. I also have my town map and milieus outlined, a writing tracker, and chapter outlines.
- PINTEREST. I have boards for the overall feel, characters, and town buildings.
- THESAURUS. For synonyms, of course.
- REEDSY. I write my book in the online software, Reedsy.
Conclusion
This is not an easy project to share. I mean, when I tell people I am writing a book, and they ask what it is about, I freeze up. Instantly.
However, I want to share my journey. Not only for me to look back at it one day, but also to keep me accountable.
That said, any advice and/or tips will be greatly appreciated ♥.
You can expect monthly updates, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter to be notified when the next part of the Aspiring Author Chronicles goes live.
Have a great day wherever you are in the world!
Love, Steph ♥
