David Cline's Blog

As a person always thinking about business and how to be more efficient while increasing the bottom line, writing a novel is probably the worst financial decision I have made thus far in my young life. This process has required literally thousands of hours and at least $1000. It’s a good thing that I don’t care about making any money from this whole endeavor. That said, I don’t regret anything and am thankful I had the energy and stamina to get it done.

The easiest and most enjoyable part of this entire process for me was creating the story while I wrote. When I got in the flow, ideas would flow through me and I could write 5000 words in one sitting. I have discussed writing styles with other authors and a lot of them talk about not being able to move on from one section to the next until it’s perfect. That is why it takes some authors decades to complete anything. Luckily, I was the opposite. I sat down on day 1 and just started typing without ever looking back.

The downside is when you reach the end, the finished product isn’t polished to say the least. Which brings me to the worst part of writing a novel. Going back to edit and revise draft after draft until you just want to scrap the entire project out of frustration.

I think it’s important to pace yourself. When I focus on getting something done, that project consumes my life until it’s completed. That strategy works most the time, but when we’re talking about 100,000 word novel, it can become unhealthy. I made a goal to get this novel done in 3 months which was super ambitious.

I would lock myself in the computer lab at college with a goal to complete a certain amount of words per day because I loved to see progress. When I realized that I was sometimes sacrificing quality for quantity I had to sometimes change strategies depending on the day.

Looking back, I should have at least read a few blog posts about how to write a novel. A half hour of invested time reading would have saved me hundreds of hours later on. My dear cousin who is also an author, (Check out her new novel) was gracious enough to do the first rough edit of my first draft. I remember her first bit of advice was to use less adverbs. I guess I was using them everywhere and for everything. That one piece of advice completely changed the way I write. Lesson learned.

I would argue that writing is a lot like singing. If effort is put forth anyone can write a novel. It is an arduous process that requires discipline and time but for me is worth it in the end. Even if I don’t make any money or sell millions of copies, I will always have something I can look back on and be proud of. The novel will last a lot longer than me and I smile when I picture my descendants generations from now picking it up and hopefully enjoying it.

Once I completed the final draft, I started researching how to mass market and distribute the finished book. It’s funny yet tragic what I learned. Many seasoned authors agreed that the best way to market your new novel, which you have labored over for months and years, is to write the sequel.

I don’t know if writing a novel for me is going to be like running a marathon. I only want to run a marathon once and cross it off my list. I have ideas for a sequel and have the first few chapters already written however so we will see. Sometimes I look at the familiar path ahead and shudder knowing now what to expect. If I do write the next one, it will be at a slower pace. A speed which can be controlled and enjoyed.

I will tell you that it gives a certain satisfaction to see your work finally on the world market.  If you could leave a review on mine, I would love to return the favor someday. Click here to check it out.

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