“I’ll write a book,” I said. “How hard could that be?”
What writing my first book actually taught me, from punctuation rules to watching Grammarly sand my voice flat.
AnnotatedThe margins are mine: where an idea first showed up, where it went next, and the essays it talks to.
Yeah. Well, here are a few things I am learning about writing a book.
Writing a book is easy. Writing a good book is difficult. Writing a book that is meaningful, is, well, I think you get the point.
I didn’t know how little I actually knew about the technical aspects of punctation. Come to find out there are a lot or rules, and some of those rules are conflicting and confusing.
I use more cliche’s than Hallmark during Valentine’s week. but I am trying to cut back, like a smoker on New Year’s Day.
My inner-critic constantly whispers “this is trash”, every time I finish a chapter. So I stop writing and watch another episode of Love Island. Yeah, say something now.
My first draft had personality. Then I discovered Grammerly.1 The upside is I now know what a split infinitive is.
The conclusion is impossible. I’ve said all I wanted to say by Chapter 7, but apparently “just Google it” isn’t an acceptable ending.
Every time I think I’ve made progress, I remember: writing is 10% inspiration and 90% deleting what you thought was brilliant yesterday.2
I’ve spent more time deciding on bullet points vs. numbered lists than actually writing the content.
I asked Claude.ai for help with a paragraph and now it wants a writer’s credit.
Writing a book feels like childbirth—at least from what I’ve heard. Months of discomfort, occasional cravings (for coffee and validation), and a lot of screaming at the end.
The good news is that I feel like I am nearing the end. The manuscript is solid. I am actually rather proud of the work and have even begun to share it with a few close friends, who are smart enough to know that if they value our friendship they will be honest with their feedback, but gentle. It’s my first time.