How many of you want to write a book of your own?

[Bean]

i'm not even halfway into it and already i am in love and this is another book i am having a relationship with. and it is so refreshing after having just finished a Faulkner.

Apparently they are making a film of it, which seems to be happening to every bestseller or whatnot, which comes out June of this year.

the IMDB profile leaves hints of a confirmation of the inevitable: that the book is always better. i still think i am going to see it, but some qualms of staying true to the story. For example, Rachel McAdams? she's great, but there is a reason that Clare is supposed to resemble a Botticelli.

edit: oops, apologies, i didn't see the similar post to mine. i'm new to Goodreads.

[Che]

1)Brother Odd- Dean Koontz
2)Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister- Gregory Maguire

[Brent]

Part of my addiction has always been connected with wanting to write a book (or many) of my own. I dreamed of it when I was a kid and then decided I couldn't. Two years ago a group of kids at work challenged me to follow my dream, and I began to write. Now I have finished a rough draft of my first manuscript. The amazing thing is that I found two best selling authors to mentor me through the process. They have an amazing program where they are helping me with every step of the process. They are even teaching me how to market the book as well as writing it. They give me hope when I feel overwhelmed.

[Malcolm]

Well done Brent. Remember that writing is mostly re-writing and marketing your book is just as much work as writing it. Malcolm Watts author
Reflections from Shadow

[Meirav]

I'm already writing a story which is far too big to not be included in a book. I've been developing it for seven years and have written two part of it (it's a saga). One of said parts is now under heavy re-writing and editing with two beta friends of mine. i'll publish it on the internet. I have to say that a fiction form of book is not the best medium for my story's plot; I think a comic book would be a much better place to it.

[Matthew]

I have been writting for about 12 years now, going back to high school, i have had a short story published in a college contest, but nothing else. I would love to write a novel, i have several ideas, but the last 3 1/2 years have not been productive in that regard. Hmmmm ever since i started my career.

[Lissa]

I was at a movie tonight and saw a preview for a movie called JUmpers that I totally thought was for the Time Travelers Wife at first. However part way into realized it was a similar concept but much more action packed. I was a bit disappointed. However now looks as if there is going to be a movie. But I sure it will pale in comparison.

[Lynn]

I would love to write & have many ideas, but I just can't seem to write them down. It's horrible.

[Kate]

I've written a few manuscripts to date, and I hope all of you who are wanting to write but feel like you can't know about NaNoWriMo, which is some of the best inspiration and motivation around.

[Monica]

I've always wanted to write. (Even though I have a degree in Accounting! go figure)But I recently became interested in writing again. I even fished out journals that were given to me by a friend in high school - in one she wrote "for my friend that will be a famous writer one day" That was almost 15 years ago... guess it's time I get on it.
I have so many ideas in my head that I'd like to right about, that's one of the reasons I read everything I can get my hands on. I have books all over my house and car that I'm read all at once. As soon as one is done, I go pick up 4 more!

[Lulu]

Sure, I've always wanted to write a book....but only because I want to have that kind of talent - the kind that fills your head so much that you can't believe others can't hear the voices in your head crying out for paper, the kind that has filled books and journals and spiral-bound notebooks (go Monica!), the kind that has you fishing for scraps of paper wherever you go because truth is always stranger than fiction and you just have to get that character in the subway down before you forget it.....

But I don't. Have it, I mean. So I'll enjoy all of YOUR books!

[Barry]

I have an idea or two I've been knocking around and lost several hundred pages of when a surge fried my computer. I have restarted writing with a better idea of where to break the story up and intend to lengthen it to a series. It's great that you have mentors. I would love to get an opportunity myself, but until I have rewritten some of what I lost, it will be enough just to create.

[Khulood]

I've always wanted to write! so many ideas and so much to write about. I was so into it, that I actually carried a notebook with me everywhere I go and even if I got an idea while driving, I'd pull over and write it down. But so far, I've done nothing with those ideas! Maybe one day I will.

[Barry]

Pull over?

[Ariel]

I'm actually writing a book, albeit quite slowly, right now. It's non-fiction but it's fun to write...I have about 60 or so pages (typed, double-spaced, etc)so far, and I should be working on a new chapter soon...It's kinda a neat feeling to be making something that will (hopefully) get published someday...

[Brent]

That's great for all of you who are working on your dream. I lucked out with finding this program called WriteWise through a great new book company called Bookwise. I have 2-3 conference calls a week to train me on different aspects of writing. What an education! If any of you are interested, I think I could get a couple of you into the next class. One thing I love is that they say everyone has a book in them, and they really want to help you succeed. Imagine what it would be like to KNOW that you have an agent who is a best selling author.

[David]

I've written two books, both nonfiction, both privately published. The first, a photo history of Ripon, Wisconsin took the better part of a year to put together with a co-author and was published in 2000 by a local downtown development group. It's still selling well.
My second book, Chasing the Ghost Birds, was published last March and is selling steadily. A very favorable review from Kirkus Discoveries helped boost interest in the book. My best venues for sales so far have been my Web site and speaking engagements. I also donated about 50 copies to Wisconsin Public Television, which used them as a member gift during the December 07 pledge drive. I appeared on the air during the pledge drive to talk about the book and Public TV. That helped boost sales and speaking dates.
I'll soon be working on a third book, a "postcard history" of Madison, WI--for a mainstream publisher this time.
Ghost Birds was an huge project that consumed more than two years of my time. But it was well worth it. To aspiring authors, my best advice is: Write! Set aside some time every day, and write.
Cheers,
--David

[T.K.]

Interesting thread. There's a quote out that that a writer is a reader moved to emulate, and I suppose that most people here are "Super Readers," so there are probably more than a few people harboring dreams.

Lynn Nesbit, the biggest agent in the biz, said: "I said this earlier as sort of a joke, but I'm beginning to think there are more writers than readers. I get these e-mails pouring in from people who want to write their life stories. It's because of the memoir. Everybody thinks they have a story. I also feel there are fewer and fewer civilians—I mean people outside of our business—who I meet who have time to read. They all say, 'I'd love to read, but I'm just too busy.'"

http://www.pw.org/mag/0801/ferrari_ad...

I'm a writer, and I think I was a reader inspired to emulate. I just hope that people realize that being a reader, a deep and thorough reader, is an accomplishment, too, kind of like being a philosopher.

Frank Conroy used to say that a book is the medium of communication but the communication is between the reader and the writer, and thus the reader is just as important and active in the process of the book as the writer.

I hope that people who are readers, avid readers, wonderful readers, don't feel that they have to become writers to complete the cycle. Without readers, there will be no writers.

TK Kenyon
Author of RABID: A Novel and CALLOUS: A Novel (May, 2008)

"Kenyon is a keeper." -- Booklist starred review

[Ashley]

I definitely want to write. I already have a several novel ideas in my head. Just need to get a zip drive so I can save my work on a hard diskette.

[Beth]

I not only have wanted to write a book of my own for many years, I finally did it after I retired early from my career as a software engineer in 1999. Then I tore it apart and rewrote it based on what I'd learned from writing conferences, feedback from my critique group, and books I'd read about how to write a novel, define characters, construct a plot, etc.. Then I wrote another novel-length manuscript. In the meantime, I wrote short stories and got a few published. That gave me the courage to start submitting my second manuscript to literary agents while I went to work on the third one. All this took years, sticking to it regardless of the 100s of rejections I received, and the support of fellow writers. As of now, I've published that second manuscript, have a contract on the third and my agent is shopping the fourth. And, I've published eight short stories. It's not easy by any means, but I encourage all of you to GO FOR IT, and to do it with some help from writer friends by joining a local writers organization.

[Brent]

Becky, If you really do want to get someone to help you. I work with some poeple who have done some ghost writing.

[Leslie]

I CANNOT imagine this as a movie!
It is one of my all time favorite books.
I think I'll skip a movie of it.
There's a great book by Octavia Butler that has a similar theme, except the main character goes in and out of slavery (and it African-American)

[Mo]

Writing my own book has been a lifelong dream for me as well. I've put that dream on the back-burner many times as other priorities arose - e.g., family, a non-writing career. Hopefully, at some point in life, I will turn back to that dream. I suppose part of my love for reading is also tied to my dream to publish my own writing. I have been reading a lot of how-to-publish-your-writing type self-help books though for pointers.

[Sean]

I have written about 15 books. Fourteen of those were utter dreck and never saw the light of day. The one I did publish (self-published) has gotten good reviews, even though I still feel like it was dreck, just not utter dreck.

I self-published it because I had been hacking away keyboards with the goal of writing a novel since I was in 7th grade. I figured I needed to finally get one out (I'm 33 now) or else I would never forgive myself if I was killed in a car accident or something.

I'm glad I published it; I'm happy for the reviews that I've gotten and I'm happy that I've done more than twice the sales of the average self-published book.

I'm working on four other books currently (one being a sequel to the first one), and I'm growing as a writer.

My desire to write a book came directly out of my love for reading, my envy of the genius of good authors, and my contempt for what I've felt have been horrid books that have still, somehow, been able to be published. (The "I-can-do-better-than-that factor.)

I think very few authors write their first book because of spectral voices "telling" them to do it. I think 99.9998% of writers write because they read...and they want to inspire the same imagination in others.

[Bliss]

I've been working on a few novels for several years. :o)

I've put the incomplete manuscripts aside for other tasks too many times to count. :o(

It's been much easier for me to write short stories but I haven't given up my dream of finishing one or more of my books.

[Richard]

Well, Bliss, perhaps you could find a way of connecting all those short stories to form a novel. That's how I wrote my first book, which had the working title "Scrapbook of a Cockroach". My publisher eventually decided against the cockroach theme, but the format has been retained. It's simply a question of ensuring that the different parts are ordered coherently and blended together seamlessly. Structure, structure, structure.

[Bradley]

I wrote a book of my own and published it. Geez! What a lot of work! =)

[Darlene]

I feel the same way. I have wanted to write a book for as long as I can remember. I write every day but nothing resembling a book. I think I will write a book one day but I'm 52 and want to do it soon! I think I should take a writing course and see if that would help?

[Brent]

Darlene,

I found a group that has the motto that everyone has a book in them. They have started to teach me about the publishing world. It is amazing everything we are learning. It is great because we have two best selling authors who run the classes and several other authors that teach us as well. We have editors as part of the class and weekly phone calls to support and encourage us on the path. Several of the people in our group expressed feeling just like you. You could get more info at mybookwise.com/brentcrane

[Judy]

I aggree with Leslie....How can they make this a movie. It is the same with the book "Twilight" that is comming out this summer. I think I will have to skip it. It could never live up to the pictures in my mind.

[Karen]

Like Leslie and Judy, I'm having qualms about watching the movie. I would hate to spoil the images that I have in my mind of Henry, Clare, and the clearing where they first met.