This post is all about how to start writing your first book using five practical steps that make getting started feel easier.
When you think about writing your first book, the overwhelm of it all might stop you before you even take the first step. You keep thinking of character arcs, plot structure, editing, publishing, marketing, and so many other things that you feel you should know. Suddenly, the overwhelm takes over, and all those worries prevent you from even starting to write your book.
But you don’t need to figure out all those details today. You only need a few practical steps to help you start.
In this post, I’ll share five practical steps on how to start writing your first book when you’re scared. We’ll talk about making your first step as small as possible, planning in advance to reduce uncertainty, separating writing from publishing, creating a courage ritual, and building confidence as a writer.
If you prefer the video version, check out the YouTube video below for practical, actionable tips on how to start writing your first book.
Step #1: How to start writing by making the first step as small as possible
You’ve been thinking about writing a book for a while, and now you finally want to start. But then all the worries start to creep in. And it’s completely natural to have these worries. It’s your first book, so everything you’re doing feels new.
You have to think about creating compelling character arcs, developing a plot that makes sense all the way to the end, and using the right tropes and elements for the genre you’re writing in. Not to mention, your brain will probably jump a few steps ahead and start worrying about editing, publishing, and marketing.
But we’ll leave all these things for a later point and we’ll focus only on the writing for now. After all, you need to write the book before you can take any of those future steps.
But even writing a whole book can feel like a huge task, and that’s often when your confidence starts to go down. You’re thinking about everything involved in writing an entire book at once. What you need to do instead is to change the way you look at the process.
RELATED POST: How to Build Confidence as a Writer
A whole book is made up of chapters. So you first need to focus on writing just one chapter. But even that may seem like a lot of work. The good news is that you don’t have to write an entire chapter in one sitting. You can simply write 100 words.
Write 100 words today and another 100 words tomorrow, and slowly, those words will begin to add up. Soon enough you’ll have written a full book. When you tell yourself that you only need to write 100 words, you no longer feel as stressed about how much you still have to write. Instead, you actually get to start writing.
And guess what? Once you begin, you’ll often end up writing more than 100 words, sometimes a lot more. You simply need to remove some of that pressure so you can take the first step and start writing.
But before you even start writing, there’s another thing that can make the process feel much easier.
Step #2: Use planning to your advantage
Before you even start writing those 100 words a day, there’s something else you can do to make writing feel easier and much less scary. And that is to plan as much as you can in advance, so things feel clearer when you sit down for your writing session.
Writing becomes much easier when you plan your character arcs and outline your book ahead of time. At least, that’s true for me. I’m not saying this is the right approach for everyone. If you’re a pantser, go right ahead and jump straight into writing.
But if you’re like me, and you like to have a plan and a pretty good idea of where you’re going, then I highly recommend planning ahead. You’ll feel a lot more confident about your writing when you know your characters, you know how they would react to different situations, and you know how the story is supposed to progress.
You don’t have to plan every single story beat. Even knowing the main ones can make a big difference. Trust me, knowing these details in advance will make a huge difference in how you feel when you sit down to write. Instead of facing a completely blank page, you’ll already have a direction to follow.
Step #3: Separate writing the book from publishing the book
Another thing that can weaken your confidence when you want to start writing is thinking about everything else you’ll eventually need to do for your book. You may need to find an editor, or even two, if you want both developmental editing and copyediting. You’ll also need to decide whether you want to publish your book independently or go the traditional route.
And if you choose to publish independently, there are even more things your brain may start worrying about: learning how to self-publish, figuring out how to market your book, and even understanding the business side of being an author.
When so many future tasks are taking up space in your mind, there’s very little room left to focus on the writing itself. Worrying about all of those future steps now won’t help you. It will only make you feel overwhelmed, increase your self-doubt, and may even prevent you from writing altogether.
So I’ll say again what I mentioned in the first point. You need to take it one small step at a time. And right now, your first steps should all be related to writing your book.
All those other things are also important, but you’ll have plenty of time to learn about publishing later. For now, focus on writing your book. After all, if your book isn’t written, all those other steps won’t matter anyway.
Once you become more comfortable with writing and start building your confidence as a writer, you can slowly begin learning about everything else. But for now, give yourself permission to focus on one job only: writing the book.
Step #4: How to start writing by creating a pre-writing courage ritual
To be in the best mental state to write, it’s helpful to do whatever you can to put yourself in that state. There are a few simple things you can do before a writing session to feel calmer, more focused, and more confident.
First, I find it extremely helpful to meditate before writing. It calms my mind, helps me focus, and makes it easier to settle into writing mode. Even if I don’t meditate right before writing, I’ve found that a meditation in the morning works just as well to help me feel less stressed and more centered throughout the day.
Second, you can use your body language to help yourself feel more confident. Amy Cuddy popularized the idea of power posing to increase your confidence. This involves standing in a strong, open posture for a few minutes before doing something that feels intimidating. So before your writing session, you could try power posing while reminding yourself that you are capable of doing this.
And once you sit down to write, try to keep that empowering body language even when you write. Take up space, keep your back straight, avoid slouching as much as possible, and create a posture that helps you feel empowered. It may sound simple, but it really can change how you feel. Just give it a try and see if it works for you.
If you’d like to learn more about body language, I also recommend exploring the books, videos, and resources created by Amy Cuddy, Vanessa Van Edwards, and Joe Navarro.
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And third, create a writing atmosphere that makes you feel good. Keep your desk neatly organized and make your writing space feel as inviting as possible. You might light a candle or some fairy lights, add fresh flowers, or keep your favorite colorful stationery nearby.
Whatever helps you feel happier and more comfortable when you sit down to write can become part of your courage ritual. Over time, these small actions can signal to your brain that it’s time to relax, feel confident, and enjoy writing.
Step #5: Build courage through repetition
This point is closely related to the previous post on How to Gather the Courage to Write Your First Book. Even if you do everything we discussed in the previous points today, you might still not feel completely courageous when you sit down to write.
But the more you do it, the easier it will get. And with every writing session, your confidence will grow a little more. The more evidence you gather that you can do the work and that you can write, the more confident you’ll become as a writer.
So the key here is to keep showing up for your manuscript regularly. Keep coming back to it, even when you don’t feel like writing, even when you doubt your writing abilities, and even when you think you have no idea what to write today.
Even simply showing up and thinking about your book can help. You may not always write something new during every session, but spending time with your story can still help you come up with ideas for what to write next, figure out how to solve a plot hole, or discover how to get one of your characters out of trouble.
So do your best to keep showing up for your book. Every time you return to your manuscript, you’re proving to yourself that you can keep going, and that, in itself, will help you become a more confident writer.
This post was all about the practical steps on how to start writing your first book. If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy this post:
How to Gather the Courage to Write Your First Book
Now it’s your turn. Which of these five steps would help you feel more confident about starting your first book? Let me know in the comments.
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