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How To Write A Book: Can You Write A Book?

How to write a book is tied to whether or not you read. If you are a voracious reader, the chances are that a book of your own has been percolating in your psyche. Indie-Publishing has freed us all to write, so if this blog topic question is a question you've asked yourself, then I believe you can write a book if you answer YES to these 3 questions:


Do I have a story?

Do You? A story? Not just an idea, but an actual story with characters who are doing things and quite possibly speaking to you and each other inside your head.


Has it stood the test of time? 

Is this story more than just a thunderbolt? If it's been rolling around your mindscape for a while, it may be more fully formed than you know.


Can I sit down and write some of it now?  

               Yes. Sit down. You. And write. Can you?


These questions aren't a trick, and they aren't meant to be mean. Even the most brilliant idea won't become a book because inspiration needs to be acted on with the diligent effort of actual writing. Staring at the blinking cursor. A lot.  Even if you have a fully-fledged story in your brain, it won't become a book if you're just not the kind of person who will sit down and write it. 


Even if you're not a writer, I have excellent news. If you've answered YES to even the first question, then you have a story that no one else knows, and that is quite special. We all need storytellers, and you may be about the best person imaginable to sit around a fire and tell your story in the ancient oral tradition that existed eons before Guttenberg's printing press. Spoken words are powerful, and so are you.

-- Anna Erikssön Bendewald



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