I have a question for you today.  Do you have a book in you?

If the answer is anything other than “absolutely not”, then maybe we need to have a little chat.

I’ll be posting another update on my Morgan’s Landing book series soon, as well as news on the screenplay, but today it’s time to ask you – Do you have a book in you?

Do you have a family member who has led an amazing life or survived a major ordeal and their story needs to be told?  Perhaps that person is you!

Do you have scribbles, sketches and ideas stewing in your brain all the time, yet you’ve never sat down and put it all into a form readers could enjoy?

There is a huge difference between something that is easy and something that is simple. Easy indicates that the activity will take little to no effort.  Simple means that the process is going to be relatively uncomplicated.  There’s a big difference!  Getting your story out of yourself and into written form is simple.  Getting it ready for the world can get you way into the weeds.

I came across this again the other day and thought I’d share C. S. Lewis’ sound advice and toss in a few of my own thoughts.  (Yeah, right – I’m sure the world’s been waiting all these years for me come along just so I could add just the right touch to round out his advice!)  I do believe I have one piece of advice that he omitted to share. Here’s what he had to say –

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I don’t think the great C. S. Lewis’ advice could get much better.  If all he’d ever written were The Chronicles of Narnia, he would certainly have learned a thing or two along the way.  While that series, due to the motion picture industry, may be the first thing that comes to mind, he has much more to offer, so be sure to delve into all the other things he’s written.

For the twenty-first century writer, we need only to give the obvious tweaks, such as:

1.  Turn off the radio.  And the TV.  And the podcasts.  And all the other stuff.  You are not looking to put things into yourself – you are wanting to draw them out.

2.  When he recommends you read “good books”, I doubt he is referring to “trash you like”.  He is speaking of good, solid literature.  Read old stuff, folks.  Really old stuff.  “Avoid nearly all magazines” would now have to be termed, “ditch nearly all social media”.  Not only is it a time-sucker-awayer that will cause you never to write, it will influence you to write the way others want you to write.  Don’t be a victim of the influencers.

3.  Absolutely!  This one goes without saying. Learn to craft a sentence, even if passersby think you’ve finally gone off the deep end and taken to muttering to yourself.

4.  Read that one over and over again.  If you don’t have a passion for what you write, how are you going to face the thing day after day?

5.  When he uses the word “pains” here – he’s not kidding around.  You will edit and edit and re-edit, trying to be sure your reader grasps exactly what you’re trying to convey.  Ask me how I know.

6.  This is valuable advice.  Keep all your musings and writings.  I used a character in a play I wrote years ago as a pattern for a character in Book 3 of Morgan’s Landing.  I have a folder full of “seeds” that I’ve scribbled down at writers’ group meetings that may someday become something.

7.  Well…I agree with the great C. S. Lewis here.  Don’t, under any circumstances, use a typewriter.  However, do use a computer.  If you keep writing in spiral books and binders, you’ll only have to type it all into the computer at once later and that, my dear readers, is a drag.  Spiral books and binders are for capturing ideas and taking notes, but get your actual stories into the computer (and backed up) as you go.  Whether you self-publish or go with traditional publishing, you will not be submitting a paper manuscript anywhere.

8.  This one should go without saying, but C. S. Lewis realized that it can be a problem, so get a dictionary and learn how to use it.

Now, for the overly obvious writing tip that the famous author omitted.  DON’T WAIT!  START NOW!  The story within you deserves to be written and honed and shared and that will never happen if you keep putting it off.  Carve out the time and start right away.

Leave a comment and let me know if this has encouraged you to move forward and get that great story out of the depths of your soul and formed into something that is ready to share with the world.