Currently Reading “Chapter After Chapter” By Heather Sellers

“Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams” by Heather Sellers is a nonfiction book that was published in December 2006.

This is the book that I need now and that I have needed for years! I am so happy I am reading this book.

I started the book a week ago and have spent time reading a chapter or more each day since. I feel that I have finally found the book that answers so many questions that I had but that have remained unanswered until now about how a published author actually wrote their book (in the practical sense).

I began writing my first book at age nine but only wrote one page and didn’t even have a plot. I gave up. After many years of being a reader and a bookworm I wished I could also write fiction. I have always been told I am a good storyteller and figured that I could parlay that into writing fiction. In my late 20s when I was doing some writing as part of my career (non-fiction) I realized that I had a talent for writing factual information. I then began thinking that I’d love to write a whole book and have it published and have people actually read it an find it useful or enjoyable (depending on the content). I loved the idea of me having produced a body of work that is book-length that someone deemed worthy of publishing and that readers thought was worth reading. Since I enjoy writing I thought the whole writing process would be fun and easy.

I participated in NaNoWriMo in November 2004 and did complete a fiction manuscript of over 52,000 words. I made the story up as I went along, following the advice in the book “No Plot, No Problem”. What I learned in that month of cramming writing was that once I got into the flow mode the story seemed to make itself up. I also learned that with fiction at least, I could never pre-plan what would happen as during the writing process the story would change course. Lastly I learned that I had certain requirements for writing (a silent house, I wrote more and better in the morning, for example). I also finished that project with the realization that I had no clue how I would ever be a homeschooling mother, wife, and volunteer worker AND write a book.

One thing that made the NaNoWriMo project work was that I scheduled time for writing, I had goals and deadlines and I also had the cooperation of my husband and children. What worked the best was to have my husband take the kids out of the house for a half or full day on the weekend to leave me alone to write. But when the month was over, it was back to normal family life. However I am afraid to read that manuscript and fear the book stinks. I probably will never look at it again!

So since December 2004 I have been thinking of ideas for writing a book. Most of all I just don’t know how to fit it in with the rest of my life.

I have scanned the library stacks and combed the available books on the craft of writing. There are many topics but too many are too specific and exist to solve problems that I don’t have. For example I don’t need a book of story prompts, or of character names, or of how to write query letters. Last fall I saw a few books I thought I could use being offered in the Writers Digest Book Club so I recently joined with the intention of buying a few bargain priced books. This book “Chapter After Chapter” was featured as the selection of the month, so I read the description, and it sounded interesting. I checked some customer reviews on Amazon and the reviews were all so positive, so I bought the book.

This book is the answer to a prayer for me. The fact that it kind of fell into my lap rather than me actively looking for it is also an indication that God played a part in me finding this book.

Sellers writes in a very frank and direct manner and just tells it like it is. Her writing comes across like a friend chatting and giving advice, it is very easy to read. The frankness is about what exactly it takes to write a book and to get it published. Some of this I did not want to hear, such as that a reader and lover of books does not always make a good writer of books and that some people should just enjoy being a reader and a book lover and they should stop thinking about writing a book if they are unwilling to do what it takes to make it happen (make time in their life for it, mainly). I also realized on my own that while I do think that I do have some talent for writing I don’t know if I have the time, energy or desire necessary to write a whole BOOK, let alone to edit the manuscript and to peddle it for publication. Since writing comes so easily for me and I can’t stop myself from writing, perhaps what I could or should do is to channel that into writing magazine articles as a freelance writer, and get paid for my work, instead of writing a book.

Sellers debunks the myth that I had (and apparently others do too), that writing a book can be treated like a hobby or yet another small project that is a lower priority than other things in one’s life. It is not possible to multi-task and to do a million things that most people do or expect people to do and to write a book at the same time, she says. In this book I realized for the first time that published authors are very, very focused and they carve out time for their book writing and in the process of saying no to so many friends and family they also sometimes tick people off! Some writers even skip celebrating major holidays with family in order to spend time writing their book (gasp). I realized that with all that I do right now, unless some major changes are made, NOW is not the time for me to write a book. On the other hand if I choose to write a book I need to make it a priority and to reduce some of the other commitments and activities that I do in my life.

This book contains information and advice that is exactly what I need to hear. I don’t know why I have not been able to find this information in other places.

I also read a great idea for preparing to write the book, to read 100 published books in the same genre. Since I am contemplating a couple of ideas for books but truly have not read anywhere near 100 books in those genres, perhaps I should spend a year doing that part of the preparation process. That book reading I could squeeze in here and there in between everything else I am doing.

Presently I am half way through the book and am really enjoying it. If you have ever thought about writing a book or if you are seriously considering it right now I would recommend that you read “Chapter After Chapter” as it is very real and frank and just what a person needs to hear to help change the pipe dream into a reality (or to abandon that pipe dream and be happy with your life as a non-book author).



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