After my first book was released, I was excited to come across so many of my friends harboring the desire of writing a book themselves! So in this post, I thought of sharing a few lessons I learnt from my book writing experience. I pray that these points will speak to you.
1. Writing a book is a good idea, but is it a God idea?
No, I am not discouraging you; I will be the last person to do that.
But the fact is: There is a big difference between something that is ‘good’ and something that is ‘Of God’. Figure out your purpose statement before you begin writing. Is God leading you to do that? Remember when God puts something in your heart you will experience His supernatural favour in every step as you obey. Capability, communication skills, resources, finance – all these factors then become secondary. Yes, it may still not be a cakewalk, but there will be less of unnecessary striving. So pray and seek God before you plan to write a book, or for that matter, do anything in your life.
2. Set target dates
I began writing my book when I was in the third month of my pregnancy. As I look back, I realised I wasted a lot of my precious time in procrastinating. It was four months before my son’s first birthday that I thought it would be a good idea to release my book that day, and that’s when I got really serious about completing my book. The target date was hovering in my mind all the time and it gave me the necessary push that was needed. But I could have saved a lot of last minute rush if I had set my target in the initial stage itself. Planning to do something without a target in mind is like playing football without having a goalpost! I hope you don’t make the mistake that I made.
3. Discipline yourself
In the process of writing this book, I cut myself off from all the distractions that were eating away my time. I shut myself from my Facebook and Twitter pages for months together and limited my time on internet surfing, emails and whatsapp, so that my focus could not be diluted. To save my time on blogging, I invited people from my friends circle to write guests posts for me. My husband Derrick also helped me by increasing the frequency of his posts on our blog despite his busy work schedule. All these steps helped me to dedicate quality time towards my book.
What are your distractions? Is there something that is taking you away from your God given dream? I guarantee you those are not simply worth it. Learn to discipline yourself and know where to draw the line.
4. Simply write
Initially as you start writing, don’t worry about the flow of the text, grammar or punctuation. Don’t bother about how your sentences are shaping up. Just keep your target readership in mind and keep writing. I realized that is how it worked for me.
More importantly pray in tongues all the time and be in constant communion with the Holy Spirit. As soon as the Holy Spirit reminds you of something – a quote, thought or example note it down immediately. Spend time meditating on the Word of God before writing anything. Every time I got stuck with a thought or chapter, I would shut my laptop and start reading the Word of God and I could sense ideas immediately popping up. Often writers talk of something called as ‘Writer’s block’, a dry spell where they get stuck for ideas. I don’t think writers who meditate on the Word of God can ever face that, because every time you meditate on God’s Word, IT IS bound to speak to you.
5. Never Give up
Three times in the process of writing and printing this book, I had almost thought of giving up. There were times when I couldn’t sleep at night. There were times when I was on my knees crying and thinking of letting it go. The pressure was too much, but I was leaning on Jesus and He saw me through. If God has put a dream in your heart, no matter how adverse the circumstances seem, don’t give up.
Let me end this post with a message I got from a man of God, which I want to pass it on to you:
It’s about time that we start seeing more and more people, anointed by His Spirit move into the forefront. There is a huge void that needs to be filled by this generation. I am excited for you!!”
And I am excited for YOU. God is excited for YOU. March on towards your God dream!