I wrote a book and you can too!
Just like my last post, my dreams can be very vivid and some make an impact. In early October, I had a very vivid dream that once again included Skyler Astin but this time, the dream changed location and ended way before I had any closure and I woke up unsatisfied. When I told my husband about my dream, I thought, “This would make a cool movie”.
A few google searches later, I created a word doc with a Logline, (a short synopsis of the book) and set out to create an outline. I had most of the story already, it just didn’t have an ending, but I figured I could think of one before I got there.
“Austin and Carolina are interns that are no strangers for competition, always at odds with each other and even up for the same position in a prestigious Ad firm, until Maya, the oddball, free spirit assistant finds her best friend in a skeptical Carolina and finds her way into Austin’s heart. Who gets the job? Who gets the girl? And why does this Öober driver have his mother in the back seat?”
This was my starting point. From here I started typing my dream in a (1, a, i) format, almost like a map if locations and what happens at these locations and the story just came out. This part of the writing was where i would do some research about where I was putting these people and if what they were doing could be possible, I didn’t want a major marketing firm to be in a remote area, so I started researching marketing firms and for the sake of research, I watched Mad Men for the first time.
Mad Men was a lifesaver! I originally wanted one of my protagonist’s mentors to be like a “Don Draper” type, but then I found my mentor in “Bert Cooper” the partner that liked to walk around the office without his shoes on. For my other mentor, I originally envisioned someone like Allison Janney, but from the show, my other mentor was more like a “Joan Harris”
Once I could “See” my people, the ending came about naturally. Then 14 pages later, my outline was complete. I showed it to my husband who genuinely seemed to enjoy it. So on October 19th, I started writing using my outline as a guide and knocked the book out in less than 2 weeks. All the research was done and all that I needed was to flesh out the book a little bit. Settle on a location and some backstory, Bing, bang, boom, and my book was done all 40 pages and 14,238 words. I wrote a book! A flipping BOOK!
Now, I sit on it until I can afford an editor or until I can find an editor willing to give it a complimentary once over. Until that day comes, I sit here writing a blog about it, instead of working on book 2 (Of 3! oh, yeah, i have a series here!) Since I literally had no one else to tell about this, so i share it with you, dear reader. I wrote a book. I wrote a book in a month. And if I can do it, anyone can do it!
