When it comes to self-help books you always have your own doubts. And so did I, when I got hold of this international bestseller, 'How to write a book in 8 days' by Priya Kumar. Being an author myself I knew for sure that a book could never be written in eight days. Some of my books have taken long to see the light of the day and some are still waiting in the pipeline. It definitely is not an easy task to churn out a fantastic book in so less a time. You need inspiration to knock at your creative side and the determination to give shape to your rioted thoughts into words. I started to read this book with queries in my mind and interestingly, I got my answers and more than that I was awakened to the fact that I was doing certain things wrongly. And in the affirmative it was the correct time to set things right.
Well, if you are looking forward to writing a book stay put, fix your seat belt, and pay attention to Priya Kumar's tricks of the trade. She suggests before getting started to write a book it's highly necessary to equip oneself, whether it be brushing one's technical self that will be employed in writing or the linguistic self that will need the vocabulary to translate thoughts into appropriate words. She also makes it very clear that an author doesn't owe anyone a book. Which means there is no particular genre that one should bracket oneself into as though that's the only thing one is expected to write. And writing a book would be easier when one reads more. I remember meeting Jerry Pinto at a literary festival and getting his autograph on his famous book 'Em and the Big Hoom,' he asked me, "What are you reading Carlos?" Although I fumbled to answer, I did answer him sounding intelligent that I was reading Yuval Noah Harrari. And he replied to me, "Oh that's great, continue to read, read, read, if you want to be a writer."
Similar to Can we write a book in eight days?:
That stuck with me, reminding me also of my professor Dr. A. Devaraj who would tell us that he would read one book a day. Seriously? We would wonder, but that's a trick you ought to figure out as you grow in wisdom. But you can for sure finish reading a book a day. When you have read much, you figure out the area of your interest and research. You will start observing your surrounding and the characters at play. At this point it's also important to write whatsoever idea humbly visits your mind. You can write on a tissue paper or any piece of paper you get hold of doesn't matter. What's important is the idea. If you have reserved the idea you have won half of the battle. The story Or the thought will find you.
Priya Kumar goes on to give us the insight into her process of writing a bestseller repeatedly. One thing is for sure that she had nothing of this planned. It's either the universe that made her do it or her inner desire to transcend into this inspirational writer that she is. But Priya took everything that came her way optimistically, whether it was the constant reminders from her friends and family about a mention she had made of becoming a writer or writing a book, or whether it was her wish to provide the world best ideas that would ruminate in her super energetic mind.
Once you know your calling, Priya believes that it is important to set aside two weeks all by and for yourself to write the book in eight days. Why two weeks? It takes time to sit, to pause or to shelve all your other appointments and focus on just one task of delivering the baby you were pregnant with for last few months. Two weeks also because during these days you will be tired and sleep will lurk at your doorstep, so you will need to give sleep it's time. If you spend a day sleeping, which your body and mind would desperately need to set yourself afire, you can spend the next day in fruitful plan execution. This, if you incorporate sleep and the process of focusing yourself, you will need more than eight days of a break to finish writing in eight days. And the break of two weeks will assist complete the target. You have your baby ready but it isn't ready to see the world as yet. Therefore, she suggests to hand it to beta readers one by one, so that you can do the necessary changes suggested by the beta readers. This process continues unless a beta reader visits you and gives you a hug for writing this masterpiece. There, you are a writer in eight days!
Also Read: The Wise Man Said
So the answer to, can we write a book in eight days? Is a big emphatic 'yes' although the process thereafter is equally humbling. Then, when your manuscript is ready after editing, the search for a publisher begins or you can choose to be a self-published author depending on what works best for you. Thanks to Priya Kumar, I understood that setting aside time exclusively to write the story that came to you is a necessity.
Copyright ©2022 THE GOAN EVERYDAY
The article was first published on THE GOAN EVERYDAY newspaper click HERE to check.
