What to write, how to write, when to write.....hellllp !!!!

Okay, for years many people, my wife, my colleagues, my friends, have been saying to write a book

Me? Write a book? yeah like that could ever happen.

So, after thinking, procrastinating, typing in ‘what book template should I use’, or ‘how to write a book’, I simply have dived right in.

I’m keeping this bit in, because when we all read a book, or have thought about writing one, we see a finished book, bound, printed, typeface perfect, spelling great and wonderfully designed cover, with maybe a brief biography of the writer and we think ‘wow I can never do that’, it looks so good

What you don’t see, and what I am conveying here, are the hours, the anguish, self-doubt, fears, missed deadlines, long hours, working early or working late, research, deleting of crappy paragraphs, words or even whole chapters, that a writer has to do.

So, as they say, if you want to learn to do something, learn how to fail, practice and in the words of a famous shoe manufacturers ad slogan of the 1990’s ‘Just Do It!’

'but Simon, what if I get it wrong or others ridicule me ?'

Ok, here is the thing.

We now live in a world, where we see perfection in the form of social media influencers, celebrities, actors and actresses and other famous people. They are perfectly attired, smiling, happy, make up and clothing immaculate and we believe we can never attain their level of loveliness or we attempt, please never ‘try’, (I will tell you why later), or worse still, copy them and get things done to us surgically in a vain attempt to be like these ‘celebrities’

Or we have those who like to highlight the fails in their so called ‘perfect’ lifestyle.

Then there are those media publications, that use paparazzi and secret and not so secret pictures of showing the rich and famous, looking not so rich, fabulous and famous. This leads us to believe we can never achieve greatness, or we mistake celebrity for contentment and greatness for perfection, which is impossible.

There will be errors, mistakes, (as opposed to deliberates), possibly some sentences or phrases or thinking or writing that will make you think, be angry, annoyed, irritated, smile, nod, grin to yourself and recognise in others and maybe yourself.

You may go off on tangents, digress and meander off into other story or philosophical threads, as if you were talking to someone. Relax, as long as you write something and continue to write, then you will get used to the feeling of typing, writing and simply putting words onto paper or a screen.

If the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, then the writing of a blog, a letter, a memo or a book, starts with simply writing.

So, dear reader, imagine it like getting fit or exercising, where you would not hit your target weight or fitness after one session. You need to move from initial inspiration and motivation, to a habitual writing of 5,10,15 minutes to start with, to up to hours, when you get 'fitter' at this writing lark.

And that is simply how you do it, by getting on with it, ignoring the inner negative voice and simply 'doing it'

So watch this space for my book....