Special Guest Post: On Becoming A Writer By N. Gemini Sasson

What if you could remember another life? What if you could re-live it and find love again? 

In The Time of Kings: The new time travel romance adventure

set in medieval Scotland from N. Gemini Sasson

is available now on Amazon 

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On Becoming A Writer

When Tony invited me to guest blog, I said yes immediately. For ten days, I kicked around ideas, rejecting one after the other. I felt like it had all been said before. That writing, the process of it, really isn’t all that exciting. If you asked me what my work day is like and I told you, you’d probably yawn.

Then today, a friend asked me how I went about becoming a writer. Such a simple question, and yet … so profound. Well, there is no one way. There is no formula. You just sit down and do it. Day, after day, after day. Word after word. Page after page. Book after book.

You do it when you don’t believe in yourself. You do it when you don’t feel like it. You do it when you’re afraid to show it to anyone for fear they’ll erupt in hysterical laughter or tear apart every phrase you toiled over. You do it even when you’re not sure your story will ever be read by another human being.

To get past all that, you have to understand why it is that you want to write.

Do it because you have something to say. Something to share. Pain you need to heal from. Hope you keep close to your heart that things can turn out for the better, even if only in a fictional world. Do it because you believe in true love, conquering fear, happy endings and good guys saving the world. Write to connect with others. Because whatever you feel in the deepest, most hidden recesses of your soul, someone else has probably felt that way, too.

The Best Stories

The best stories reveal truths about ourselves and our worlds that we weren’t aware of before. They bring us closer together. They move us emotionally.

When I was a teenager, I was in love with the idea of being a writer. I had a typewriter and desk tucked away in my closet. I’d write a page or two of a story and abandon it. I didn’t yet understand that writing a book was a long and often tedious process.

That dream, though, of being a writer eventually drew me back – but not for another twenty plus years. Even at thirty, I didn’t yet possess enough confidence in how to portray my ideas, or understand the parts of a story, or have the commitment to write an entire book. To those of you at this stage, don’t let that stop you. Start somewhere. Write journal entries, write articles, write blog posts. Just … write.

Write as if no one but you is ever going to read it. Because when you start to worry about criticism, rejection or disinterest, you aren’t going to write in your most authentic voice. When you worry about even finishing the blessed book, the whole task can seem so daunting that you chuck it early on to save yourself the grief. 

Take it one paragraph at a time

A writing instructor once asked the class I was in what defines you as a writer. Most of us said having a book published. His answer was: Writers write. Plain and simple.

Now, becoming a ‘published author’ is another matter. Luckily, it’s more attainable than ever these days. Computers, the internet, and digital self-publishing make it a thousand times easier than it was a decade or two ago.

Just remember, before you can become a published author, first you must write.

Until later,

Gemi

About the Author

N. Gemini Sasson is the author of six historical novels set in 14th and 15th century Scotland, England and Wales, including The Bruce Trilogy and Isabeau, A Novel of Queen Isabella and Sir Roger Mortimer (2011 IPPY Silver Medalist in Historical Fiction).

Her latest release is Uneasy Lies the Crown, A Novel of Owain Glyndwr. Long after writing about Robert the Bruce and Queen Isabella, Sasson learned she is a descendant of both.

If you'd like to learn more about N. Gemini Sasson's books, visit her website www.ngeminsasson.com or blog http://ngeminisasson.blogspot.com and find her on Twitter @NGeminiSasson