The 65,000-Word Marathon

This is the final post in a seven part series called, "An Author's View of the Publishing Process."

Part 1: A Book Concept Takes Shape
Part 2: Writing the Non-Fiction Book Proposal
Part 3: My First Writers’ Conference 
Part 4: Tweaking Titles in Preparation for The Big Pitch
Part 5: Oh, The Rejection!
Part 6: The Call

It took me about three weeks to come down from my “I can’t believe it” high. After receiving the news that I’d been offered a book contract, I immediately started writing the 65,000 words I’ll need by November 1 in order to fulfill my contract.

People ask: “Didn’t you have the whole book written already?” 

Well, no. While I’d completed a fair amount of the research for the book, I had held off writing it, waiting for direction from a potential publisher.

Sixty-five thousand words sounded like a lot at first. Most magazine articles I write are 1,000 or 1,500 words. This promised to be a marathon, rather than the sprint I was used to running. But as I began writing, the 10 years worth of words, ideas and thoughts about adoption I’d been storing up came pouring out. After two months of writing, the words continue to flow—sometimes excruciatingly slowly—sometimes effortlessly.

Last week, I finally got around to reading my publisher’s Style Guide and discovered that I needed to reformat a few things. I spent an entire workday scrutinizing the five chapters I’ve written so far, making sure my endnotes are structured according to the publisher’s expectations, double checking the accuracy of Scripture quotations, putting the chapter headings in the right fonts and locations, and calling my publisher to find out what release form I’m supposed to use to obtain permissions from people I’ve interviewed.

Despite the sometimes tedious nature of authoring a book, I remain ecstatic that a publisher finally believed in the merit of this project. I still slap myself, thinking, “I can’t believe someone is paying me (albeit, not very much) to write an entire book about adoption.” I alternately wonder, “Will anyone actually buy my book?”

It’s the way every author feels, I’ve heard. When I asked Jenn if she’d ever felt this mixture of ecstasy and fear about her book, she just laughed and replied, “Every day.”

I’m discovering that writing a book is like painting a picture. I’m a highly-organized linear thinker, so I pulled out my detailed chapter outline to use as a guide. To my astonishment, my thoughts often veered from the outline and my writing took on a life of its own, going in directions I hadn’t intended.

Fiction authors tell me this happens to them all the time. They’d tell me: “The things my characters did near the end of my novel surprised me.”

I’d think: “How can they surprise you? You created them!”

When the same thing began happening with my non-fiction writing, I finally understood. During the creative process, our subconscious works in ways we are unaware of, fine-tuning our conscious thoughts and painting a picture that gradually emerges on the canvas.

The next few posts will answer some frequently asked questions about the non-fiction publishing process, so if you have a question to submit, please e-mail me.  I’ll also be answering questions about my book, "What's So Great About Adoption?" so submit those, too.

For more news and information about adoption, please visit my Website, www.laurachristianson.com, or my Christian Adoption Blog at adoption.com.

Comments

[Jenn]

Hey Laura!
Love your seven part series on the pain, er, I mean joys of being published. Can't wait to see those polished 65K words . . . you go, girl!

Jenn Doucette

[Karen W]

Thanks for sharing your journey!