Meg Dowell Writes

I’m currently in the process of designing my “dream” office. I have an entire empty room to do with what I please, and you’d better believe I’m going to make space for all my books.

It’s fun to imagine what it’s going to look like when it’s finished.

But I still know it’s never going to get done if I never actually work on it.

It’s kind of like writing a book. You can’t write a book without actually writing. And you can’t write well if you’re not interested in what you’re writing about. If I were designing a workshop instead of a place to write, I’d never get that thing done.

Don’t write what you know. Write what you WANT to know. What you’re INTERESTED in knowing.

I’ve heard many authors say that the key to writing a good book is to write the book you’ve always wanted to read. And that’s still the best advice I’ve ever been given.

It doesn’t matter if you think no one else will want to read it.

It doesn’t matter if there’s already a book sort of like it out there.

Stop letting silly stuff like this stop you from writing the book you want to write.

If you want to be a writer, you have to write. And you’ll never write if you never dare to write the book you’ve been dreaming of.

I’m starting a new book on Wednesday that I’ve been dreaming about for almost a year.

The only reason I’ve waited is because I knew I needed to dedicate a very specific segment of the year to working on it. If I knew I had the time, I’d have started it right away.

It doesn’t matter that I don’t know very much about heart conditions or wolf sanctuaries or that I’ve never written an “adult” (meaning: featuring adult characters) novel before.

I’m still going to write it anyway. Because I’m a writer. That’s what I do.

Sometimes you dream about doing something for so long that you forget you actually have to get up and make that dream come true.

Do that. Get up. Write.

No more talking about the book you want to write. Write it.

Do it. I know you can.

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Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a nine-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.

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