Yikes.
All my life I’ve said, “I want to be a writer.” I was just a baby Becca, writing short stories in a journal and diary entries on my computer. I honestly thought everyone was good at writing until I realized a lot of people could barely spell the word definitely. The success I’ve had in writing over the last two years have shown me that I am, in fact, a writer.Why not write a book?
The thought of my name in print on a bound book with words I’ve written and a cover I’ve picked out… it makes my heart flutter. The thing is… I don’t know what I’m writing yet. It might take me years. I know writing a book is a process. I know I’m going to doubt myself, and it’s going to be really hard. But that’s okay. I’m playing around with a few potential ideas, like a collection of short stories, but I haven’t been able to narrow down a particular plot or angle yet. I already feel like all the ideas that come into my head are awful… but I keep trying to remind myself that one idea needs to be planted, and then I need to nurture it (write it). All it takes is one idea to grow into something beautiful.Ideas are alive, that ideas do seek the most available human collaborator, that ideas do have a conscious will, that ideas do move from soul to soul, that ideas will always try to seek the swiftest and most efficient conduit to the earth (just as lightning does). Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
As far as genre or “what I’m writing”? I don’t know. Contemporary fiction? YA fiction? A collection of short stories or personal essays like David Sedaris? Should I write something about a strong female character and her adventures in love and fashion (a la Sex and The City)? Should I write something kind of sci-fi and hilarious (a la Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart)? I want to write something hilarious, a little weird, and smart. I know I want there to be love and some romance involved. I know I want it to be a dark, but also deeply funny. I know I want the reader to laugh and to make them think. But I have no idea what my plot or story or even if I’m writing in first person or third person. I’m hoping it will all come to me in time–to reveal itself–as many writers claim it does. They say it just comes to you.
I’m ready, New York Times Best-Selling Idea. I’m here. I can handle it.
I’ve been practicing with writing prompts, writing synopsis, giving characters names… I think I even came up with a main character (okay, fine, I named her and decided what she looks like). Regardless of whether or not I come up with a novel, I am challenging myself to write 50k words in the month of November. Writing at a ferocious velocity will only make me a better writer, right? In my word count, I’ll include words I write for the various blogs I publish and other publications I write for, but I am going to attempt to write a goddamn book too. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it. Cheers, BRL
Becca Risa Luna 