Lizzy

Preface

Many people who like to write. Or, who have thought about writing think about "that great american novel." The novel that they eventually will sit down, and get to writing. I am also guilty of having those delusions of grandeur.

Every time I sit down. I end up putting the mountain of challenges in front of what I want to get accomplished. I end up having a ton of conflicts on structure, and timelines. I think about having to get an editor, or find a publisher, and those thoughts just bog me down. I start thinking about the fact that I am going to have to reread my work over a hundred times, and still not be happy with it.

The odd thing about all the challenges that I observe are that they aren't related at all to the story I have in my mind. Or, concerns that people might not like my work. I have the mindset with my writing that a 1,000 people could read what I wrote, and dislike it or not care. However, if there is one person that enjoys what I write I have netted one reader. Which is one more than I had before.

I have the content. It just feels like the logistics are holding me back. However, I realized that the logistics weren't actually holding me back. Me caring about the logistics is what is holding me back. My ingrained understanding of legacy methods of writing are what is holding me back.

Thinking I need an editor or a publisher is holding me back. Don't get me wrong. I do see the value in publishers, and editors. This book would probably be phenomenally better with them. However, I realized that in me waiting, and not acting whether I have them or not is inconsequential. Mainly, because if I don't act. I won't have a book.

In hopes that I will actually act on my aspiration to write a book. I have built a game plan.

Here's the Short Game Plan:

I am posting this preface with the title to the book. Then a separate post will have the table of contents, and the third will have the introduction. After that, I'll start working on the first chapter and invoke the long game plan. I will also be making regular updates to the table of contents as I post new articles.

Here's The Long Game Plan :

• I'm going to write a chapter of "Lizzy" at a time.
• I'm going to publish a chapter of "Lizzy" at a time.
• I'm going to wait some amount of time for feedback from the community on continuity, or other logistics in the chapter I might have screwed up.
  • Length of time is variable at this point since I'm just starting.
  • Up-votes are also great, because it gives me a way to recognize those that help.
• Possibly edit the previous chapter to make corrections if they are glaring.
• Then I'm going to start the next chapter.
• If the community tells me they hate my work. I'll probably still keep going. :)
• Repeat all previous steps until my book is finished.

When it's all said and done?

I don't know. Maybe a publisher could pick it up, and get it to be a legitimate book. Maybe I stop writing after a couple chapters, and then drop it like hot potatoes. Only time will tell. It should be fun while I going through the journey.