When someone asks me, “What’s it like to author a book?” My typical response is that it’s fun. That tends to lead to more questions. I think that’s because to most folks “fun” is not an expected answer. There is a great article about that.
Whatever job I had, I would try to make it fun, by looking for ways to make it fun. I felt that a dull, boring, and/or routine type of job would make me dull, boring, and/or routine. Not good. Can writing a book be dull, boring, and/or routine? It certainly can, and I suspect it is to some authors. Especially a newer author. And you know what? I think readers can detect that. I believe that dull, boring, and routine hardly ever come out of the heart, but rather is a mind thing. Look at it this way. The process of a baby being born, from conception to birth, is one of the most joyful times in the average person’s life. It’s a fun time full of planning and anticipation. To me, as an author, writing a book is the same.
The image above is a good expression of the fun I have when writing. (I am certain there are others who see no fun in that depiction, and I understand that.) It looks cluttered, but it’s organized clutter–both inside of my mind and in my writing spot. Ideas are floating around; some are sailing by. Many have come to rest waiting to be picked up or expanded. Others are shelved as they await their usefulness on the current work or a future work. The fun is the satisfaction of starting from scratch, in an empty room (my head), progressing through organized mayhem, to meet a self-imposed deadline that ultimately results in the submission of a manuscript.
The way I am wired precludes any other approach to writing than to having fun. If I make it like work, I think the end product loses some of its authenticity. If I make it like work, my thinking loses some of its spontaneity, and that will show up on the published pages. When writing becomes work, I actually lose the drive to write. When that happens, the writing stops. As long as I stick to the “I’m having fun” approach to writing the ideas start flowing and the energy ramps up. In those moments, the mind is fertile for creating something.
In a nutshell, writing is work, but it should also be fun.