“Bridge between an author and a reader is a book.”
Be the author so many readers are waiting for. Let’s all share the blessed treasures from an author’s chest. Treasured memories are kept safely within the treasure chest of a person’s inner soul. Neither will they perish nor fade away, as long as you place them on paper through your blessed pen. Today let us all take a trip down memory lane. For all aspiring authors and readers alike, let me talk about how I became an author.
I will also try to help all of you who have asked me one question over a period of time.
The question is, “How do you get started writing your books? Like, do you outline, write the entire thing in order, write each character and then start piecing it together like a puzzle? I need a little advice on getting started.”
Easy and simple questions. My process looks like:
- Do you have a story to tell? Why do you want to write the book?
- Relax and let the ideas come to you. Plan the story in your mind.
- Write a synopsis.
- Do your research.
- Outline.
- Get started.
How will you begin and how will you end?
For first-time authors, these questions will at times confuse you. You will get frustrated if you are trying to do it like a college essay for there is no one guiding you. All authors are different. As a friend, let me tell you all these answers makes it seem like you must go back to school. You will get even more confused. Some start writing the basic outlines and never finish the book. As then they again get confused, as to what to do then? What about the in-between chapters and the flow?
Remember even when you are frustrated and you are biting your teeth, writing a book and wanting to be an author is not a test. There is no deadline, it’s your choice. It’s your inner desire to write and become an author. So, don’t be frustrated. Everything is in your hands. Start with the pen and paper and journey.
Another person said, “I have questions. I have a great idea, I know how to start and finish. For some reason, when I start writing I am lost.”
My answer to both of you is don’t stop writing.
If you start your book and feel like you are getting lost, do other things in the middle. Write a blog. Read a blog or articles. Read other things not related to your book. Rest your mind and maybe just take some time and space from your book. All of these things will help you get back on track. What you want to do and need to do must come from your inner soul, like poetry and love letters just flow out from one’s inner soul if only you want to express your feelings to the other. Start thinking of the completed version of the book and then start writing.
My advice though to those who want to take a short break, is go ahead and take the needed break. Why are you allowing what you started to do as love and something you want to do to be a struggle and a war? Go back to when you just wanted to write a book, not get into an emotional roller coaster. Think why you want to write a book. Is it a hobby or something you just wanted to get off your checklist? For myself, I write because I love doing it. I feel like I have something to say and give, because I know there is one person somewhere out there who needs it.
Even if you do take a break from writing your book, keep on writing other stuff.
When you get back to writing your book again, go slow and steady because you will have to get back on track and like always, slow and steady is the game changer.
A book is a love letter where you are free to write what your inner soul wants to express, not what the others want to hear. It’s your story, so say it your way.
If your books express what the others want to hear, then you are writing the other person’s tale, not yours. I believe everyone should be able to write their own tales their own way. If the books become super hot, then that’s a blessing. If not, then you still have written your own story your way.
Like I always say, let the story be yours.
I have seen a lot of authors today say nothing is original and then they take this line to heart, justifying their wrong and copying other people’s books and ideas, and placing their name on those versions of another person’s story.
They believe no rules have been broken except they just committed the biggest mistake of their life, as their story will never be told. This tale they wrote is not theirs to tell. It’s not original but a copy. This might give them the name and gain, yet their inner soul will always be restless as they will always know the story never was theirs to tell.
So my advice to all of you is first have fresh ideas.
Have a story planned and pinned in your mind. Write a synopsis. Then make the synopsis into a book through your imagination. Write the beginning, the end, and then get to know your characters. Be faithful to yourself and let your pen write what your heart wants to say. The best advice I could give you is to befriend your characters, love your book, and be original.
No, I don’t let the characters write the story as I write the story my way. The characters fall into place and then they become alive. An author and her work if compared to a movie is the director, the script writer, the producer, and the whole production team in one. You begin directing the characters to do their part only by reading their scripts.
Yet in a book as you grow, you will see the characters too start developing their own characteristics.
An example is in my series Kasteel Vrederic, each character is different. Each book in the series is from the viewpoint of a member of the Kasteel Vrederic family. All have different styles and different ways to express their feelings. Through the process of growing as an author and loving your own characters like your own children, you will see each one is different.
My advice to all of you is just fill in the pages. Start writing and let the words be your friends. Follow your heart. Let the storyline be your own. Don’t get lost in the world of confusion through Google, as then you will feel like you are in a mirror maze.
For example, I googled medical advice for my newborn puppy Moo all the time. I had lost my first fur baby boy recently to old age. Yet his loss has permanently left a hole in my inner soul which I know I can never replace. Moo, however, is my healer fur baby so I google all the “what if, oh no” stuff. My veterinarian told me to stop googling, as then I will get confused with all the horror stories. I would’ve gotten off track and not find the right answers but get lost within the wrong answers.
So my answer to all of you is ask yourself why you want to be an author.
Is it because you have a story you want to share or is it something you just want to do? Either way, find an original story you want to write. Then just start typing and let your story take life. No pressure, no force, just something you want to do, your way through your own style.
I don’t believe the books have to be all written the same way because that’s what we are all used to reading. For the question then would be how or why is my book different? It’s my book, my way. I love writing and enjoy writing and love each step of the way. Let your own way, your own path lead you to your own book.
My advice to anyone who wants to get started and write a book because it’s their dream job, is just begin the journey.
It’s your book, so do it your way. I would say to a singer let your voice be your own. Don’t try to copy a famous singer because then your amazing voice will always be overshadowed and lost. Be yourself and let the process work. All the blank pages will be filled and you will soon have a great story to tell everyone. Yet from the beginning to the end will be a time you must learn to enjoy as soon this time you spent day dreaming of how and when will be over. So my advice is enjoy the time you are spending creating your masterpiece.
My journey becoming an author was a miracle.
I had begun my journey through writing prayers I had seen in my dreams. The Holy Archangel Michael had come to me in my dreams and he had asked, “Have you written the songs yet?”
I had seen this same dream over and over again until one day I started writing my prayers which I had called songs in my diary. Then, I had seen again I had sent my prayers in a bottle to people who too needed a song of prayer to recite when they felt lost.
I had seen some people picked up these bottles and had said, “This is what I needed at this moment.”
Then one day, I was sitting in a small inn where I had stopped over for the night to rest during my crosscountry travels. I saw a family of strangers holding one another crying. They had a family member in the hospital and they were questioning the Lord but why.
I could not sit there at my own small table and not show sympathy or kindness to this grieving family. I told my friend who was sitting next to me to maybe say something. He took my iPhone and recited my prayer “THE HEALER.”
He prayed with them, for them, then another woman came forward and told me about how her fiancé had passed away and she just did not know how to deal with it. My friend recited my written prayer, “LIFE ON THIS EARTH IS BUT A DAY.”
The experience left me shaking as two different families left with peace in their souls. They hugged me and we said our goodbyes.
I again saw that night, “Have you written the songs yet as today two different groups of people found some comfort and even if the comfort is just a little, it is something rather than nothing.“
Then in a few months, I told the Holy Archangel Michael I have written the songs, as now I have two books of prayers out for all who need them even if it is just for a short period of time.
That was the very first time with a lot of courage I published my prayer books I call Spiritual Songs: Letters From My Chest and Spiritual Songs II: Blessings From A Sacred Soul. My third book of songs will be releasing soon.
The journey then became easy as I wrote spiritual books, nonfiction, and fiction.
I knew there were audiences for all kinds of books as someone out there might need to take a break and visit another paranormal world. Someone might want to get away through a travel book or a prayer book. Or a parent looking to read a world traveling children’s book, I have one for all the children of this world.
My reason for becoming an author is totally personal and different than maybe yours. Yet the world needs all different authors and books. It’s like a healing journey where we can be there for the others during their time of need. So let’s all be there for one another during our time of need.
To be an author is easy yet it is not something that we the authors should take lightly.
Our written books should be an example not an obstacle. Don’t worry about the critics or the audience who don’t appreciate your words, because maybe there is just one person who needs your words of comfort tonight. Let this book be there for them. I had one such critic who after reading one of my books had come to my social media pages saying, “How do you think you know what we would see in the future?”
His comments were really mean and I can’t write the complete comment without crying. Yet I did not have to answer his questions as in 2017, my prediction was just that a prediction, yet after the health crisis of 2019 the world saw firsthand what I had written in 2017. No criticism can change the facts that were written in my books as that’s what it is, my books my way, yet a gift for those of you who will accept my books as your friends.
Don’t let anything stop you from completing your unfinished book.
If it is not finished, then the one person who is waiting for this special book won’t find it. Believe me, it took me all the courage in the world to publish my written prayers as they were for years hidden in my chest. I had always told everyone I like to be in the audience not on the stage as then I don’t have to worry about being criticized unjustly. I do accept constructive criticism as that’s what we all need to grow, not the criticism that makes you stop writing as you can simply choose what to take and what to ignore.
So like myself, I urge all of you to just place your pen to paper, and begin the journey. Watch your book be a sacred world where all the characters in your book will be alive forever.
Before anything, however, ask yourself the question why do you want to be an author?
Why do you want to take this journey? Will you be able to take the critics as now people do criticize other people’s stories, even though it’s not their stories to tell. They will criticize, but will you be able to take it?
If you know the answers and it’s like no criticism is stronger than your will to tell your side of the story, then I welcome you on board. Please don’t wait. Just begin the journey and if no one else does bless you, I will bless you as I always will be there for you and all who need my blessings.
One day long ago, I had told the Holy Archangel Michael, “Yes, I have written the songs.”
My answer to all of you is, write the story you want to tell. Be original, be yourself, and don’t get lost in a world of questions and answers. Just start the journey as all journeys do come to an end. Your journey too will come to an end when you have written your first book.
If you have any personal questions during this journey, do let me know. I will answer and be there for all of you.
“Books are an escape from all the troubles of life, as you can take a break and even get answers to your quests, or find a prayer waiting as the answer to your questions.”
Sending my love and blessings!