Writing a Book—One Line at a Time

Everyone seems to want to write a book, and even though statistics show something like a million books a year are being produced, the number of people who write books is still a very small percentage. Talking about writing a book is a lot easier than actually writing one. But writing one does not have to be as difficult as people fear. Overcoming basic fears and reasons for procrastination so a book can get written can be done simply by putting the realities of writing into perspective.

A friend of mine has taped to his computer the saying, “Nulla dies sine linea.” That’s Latin for “Never a day without a line.” It is a reminder to him that he must write every day. Although he doesn’t adhere to it always, he says he does for the most part. He told me he got the phrase from an article he read many years ago about writing and it mentioned several other authors who use that phrase, including John Updike, to remind them of their writing goals.

Writing every day may sound arduous, and for many of us, I’m sure it sounds next to impossible. But look at that sentence again. It doesn’t say “Never a day without a chapter” or even “Never a day without a page” or even “Never a day without a paragraph.” It simply says, “Never a day without a line.” Authors don’t write books a chapter or a page at a time but one word, one line at a time.

I can already hear the naysayers and procrastinators prophesying, “You’ll never write a book if you’re only going to do a line a day.” Well, you will; it’ll just take you a longer time. But think about if you just write a page a day. In a year, you would have a book length manuscript. Depending on how long your book is, you might even have two books, or in 180 days you could write your book and then spend the next 180 days doing the revision. And the more you write, the easier it gets. If you only write just a little every day, because you are consistently writing, your brain is training itself to think about the writing, the characters, the plot, or the organization of your book, and so the writing becomes easier the more you write.

You will have tough writing days and you will have glorious days where you can’t write as fast as the words are coming to you, but if you keep at it, just like an athlete who trains every day, eventually, you will achieve your goal. You will also find that as you work on your book, you will find more and more time to work on it. You might dedicate an hour each day to writing, but then at other points in the day, ideas might come to you, so you will reach for a pen and scribble down some notes about what you want to write tomorrow, or if you have time right then, you might sit down and write some more.

Because writing regularly will make your brain constantly be subconsciously thinking about your book, you may discover some of your best ideas come to you while you’re driving to or from work, while you’re grocery shopping, or while you’re talking on the phone—something a friend says may trigger an idea. Even some little event at work might cause you to grab a sticky note and jot down a quick note to expand later into a whole scene for your book. Trust me, a lot of writing gets done this way, a lot of the ideas, organization, and development of a book come to authors in moments when they aren’t focusing on writing.

You do not need big blocks of time to write a book. You don’t need to take a week off from work, or devote every Sunday to it for eight hours. In fact, many writers find that the pressure of doing that is self-defeating. They’ll end up cleaning the refrigerator, wasting time surfing the Internet, or give up on writing and mow the lawn. You may find it easier to devote hours of time to writing once you have a rough draft done and you can start on revision, but getting that rough draft done may be easiest in smaller chunks of time.

Nor does it matter when you do it. If you can, find a time that works best for you and schedule some writing time every day. But if you have a crazy hectic life—a long commute, kids you have to run everywhere, etc.—take a minute whenever you can. If you have to sit and wait for your child at the orthodontist, bring your notebook or laptop with you and steal twenty minutes to work on your novel. Take ten minutes to speak into your voice recorder while you’re stuck in traffic. If you go out for dinner and you get home at 7:40 and your favorite TV show starts at 8 p.m., then use those twenty minutes productively to write. You’ll still be farther along than if you waste those twenty minutes.

Yes, you can also prioritize. You don’t need to watch another rerun of “The Office” or “Law and Order.” You can use that time to write instead, but neither do you have to give up things like dinner with a friend or belonging to the PTA or taking a shower so you can find writing time.

Promise yourself just a line a day and that book will be written. Even if it takes you two or three years, if you write just a line today and a line tomorrow, you will be farther tomorrow than you were yesterday. You will have made progress.

Make it your mantra to write every day. Repeat after me, “Nulla dies sine linea! Nulla dies sine linea! Nulla dies sine linea!”

 

Irene Watson

Picture of Irene Watson, our editorIrene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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