Most of the time, writing a book sucks.

I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

…okay, maybe on that one girl in 4th grade who tripped me and got mud all over my brand-new Lisa Frank trapper keeper… She can go ahead and try to write a book (among other things that I won’t mention in polite company), but all you other folks out there, please. Don’t.

I’ll save you the hair-pull frustrations and hours of lost time and constant questions twittering in the back of your brain, wondering WHAT THE HELL it is you’re trying to do with this big o’ pile of words you’ve been building.

… And the gnawing fear that it’s all going to amount to a load of frazzled fudge.

After your spent so many hours in a chair that your ass is square-shaped,

and your wrists hurt like hell,

and the voices in your head may or may not be real people (Is that my husband calling me or just the line I’m supposed to write down next?!), you sit there and wonder if it’s all worth it.

Or if the whole thing is going to be one giant failure. 

It’s a fear that I’m sure you can connect with. We’ve all felt it before. At least I know I have.

But one of the laugh-in-your-face ironies about writing is that everyone gets to judge your “failure” or success for themselves. Welcome to the shiny world of Amazon/ Goodreads book reviews. Available in over 170 countries.

Most authors I know read reviews with their bodies all tensed up, like a man waiting to be punched. Because we’re all wondering the same thing you’re wondering when you pick up a book: “Hmm, I wonder if this is any good?” 

A harder question to ask when you’re the one who wrote it. 

And yet we keep writing.

Why? Because we want to and need to and—in some sadistic way—we even love it (Fifty Shades is helping me cope with these tendencies). And because sometimes you stumble upon magic in the creation, the building, the weave.

Because stories are what connect us to who we are. Every culture, every family, every friend. 

Everything.

Success? Failure? I don’t know, and I don’t judge. Most of the time, I just want to hear a great story.

If you do too, then maybe you should write a book. (You can ignore all my earlier comments about how much it sucks.)

Or grab one of mine, if you haven’t read my work.

Or send an email to one of your favorite authors telling them how much you appreciate their story. Believe me—you’d make their day.

And you may even get a good story of your own out of it. (You can tell it to me over a glass of wine, if we ever meet.)

Till next week — keep reading my friend, and I’ll keep typing up the stories in my head.

Love and Blessings,
Olivia

_____

Before you go…

❤️ Don’t forget to grab your Free Adult-Only Coloring Book ❤️

(Made for us sassy romance readers)

Just enter you info. below:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.