So everybody sometime on their life have tried out something new, right??
Well, let me tell you today, its never easy. As we all know, each of us has to go through a lot of troubles to make our dream come true. Whether becoming an entrepreneur, a businessman, a software Engineer, a designer, a hacker, a writer or any of the other 1000+ careers in life, we all have to go through the hardships of life to make our dream come true.
So let me tell you my journey of becoming(or trying to become) an author. Here are some of the steps that I took to complete by book. Hopefully, it might inspire more people to successfully complete their dreams.
1. WRITING THAT FIRST LINE
For the people who want to try something new, the first hurdle is always the first small step. The step that defines what their future holds, or what they need to do to make their dreams come true. And that is the biggest challenge.
I, being not any different that the others, also faced the same issue. The idea of the book, the characters, the climax had come to me way back in 2008. But it took me 2 more years to finally put that pen and write my first sentence for the novel. The main reason being me looking for a new job after the recession period was over. So ultimately, it was on a quiet night in 2010 that I wrote my first sentence of the novel.
2. PERSEVERANCE
The second point is most definitely perseverance. The zeal to write everyday, even if its only one sentence or one paragraph. Which I lacked without saying. With my new job and settling down in a new city, it became very difficult for me to continue my writing for next few years.
As a result, it took me the next 4.5 years to complete even half of the novel, the same amount of time which I served in my new company in Bangalore after coming from Kolkata. As a result, most of the things which I started out with as a novel, got changed overtime. At some points, it felt like the novel would never be complete.
But my zeal to turn my idea into a novel made me write it, even though a good 8 years later than I thought it would be.
3. TO WORK WITH CURRENT CONDITIONS
To me, it always felt like there would be a good condition in future when i would get time to work on the novel. believe me, that good time never comes. I learned it in the hard way.
I always felt that my day job was taking all the time of my day, causing me to loose track of the novel itself. But I was wrong. When I changed my company, it was more difficult for me to get enough time even to think of writing any novel at all. The new job took my time from morning 7:30 AM to night 12:30 AM nearly everyday. So I kept thinking that I would proceed with my writing in the weekend. But after 5 days working day and night, it takes a toll on your body and as a result, I found myself in most of the weekends dozing off or spending time in games or movies as refreshment, which by the way, didn't do much good for my novel at all.
The lesson I learnt from it was that there is no perfect condition to do what you like. You have to make your own perfect conditions.
Therefore, it took me few months to understand that and make my time after office works to go on with my writing.
4. WRITER'S BLOCK
From what I researched, every author during writing has faced a situation where writing didn't seem to come up to him. it was as if the words were not calling him or the plot was not making him interested anymore. Sound's familiar???
Yes, its the writer's block.
Everybody in their life have felt this problem at least once. Not only a writer, even businessmen, entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors everybody has felt bored with his job at least once in his lifetime. And I was no different. It was at a time when my day job was not going too well for me as I didn't found any passion for my work there. And the same was reflected somehow with my writing as well. Though reading novels and writing upon my idea had become a passion for me, still the Writer's block effected me. It probably took me nearly 4 years to come out of it and start off where I left.
There was no magic formula to get out of it. It took all my mental strength as well as a push from my close friends and family to continue my writing, to continue putting words into my idea. The passion of writing somehow drove me forward, and urged me to start writing and completing the novel.
But that was not the cakewalk I thought to be.
5. REMEMBERING THE IDEA
Coming out of the writer's block was definitely a challenge. But overcoming that was not so easy. Even when I overcame that, immediately I faced the next problem.
After a gap of so much time, it became difficult for me to remember the actual idea which I had so many years ago when I had started writing. it was not until I concentrated hard for multiple nights on the characters , the plot, the details of my incomplete writing that I remembered the original idea. But getting back that idea was not the same as I had in the very start of my writing the novel. So things naturally started to sway out of my hands.
But again, it was the perseverance that urged me to go on and complete my writing.
6. SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH CORRECT PEOPLE
To build something new, to take risk in life, to go on with your passion, the most important thing anyone needs is the support. The support of people near them. And if you are surrounded by the right people, it would always bear the fruit.
I was lucky to be surrounded by people who actually inspired me to complete my writing. Countless times my family had asked me, even forced me to write the novel. My mother, wife and sister, all supported me through this journey all the while. Without the support of them, it would really have been difficult for me to complete my very first novel. They pushed me hard day and night and supported me all the way through to write and complete my idea and turn that into a novel.
So guys, this was a snippet of behind the scenes of my journey as a writer. There were undulating paths, difficult situations, sleepless nights and gruesome research which actually made me complete the novel. Ultimately the work which started in 2010 completed after a long 8 years. It was not without perseverance, support from family or sacrifice of time that this would have been possible at all. and its same for any other passion or work as well.
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Pic courtesy : google images