Lately a few people in my life have been asking me how I’m able to write a book. The short answer to their question is: not very easily, and it’s hard to explain. It’s a big project for sure, and most people never write a book in their life—some because they don’t want to, and some because they feel they can’t even if they tried. Writing is an intense process with a lot of ups and downs, so I understand how it feels like an impossible task. But this felt like a good opportunity to illustrate how writing a first draft might look for those who are curious and have never written a book before. It’s quite an adventure to write an adventure. And since I’m working on the first draft of my next book right now, it only seemed fitting to show you what my life will look like over the next couple of months.

Stage 1: Excitement

Maybe an idea has been ruminating in your mind for months or years, or maybe it came instantly to you in a vivid dream the night before, but nonetheless you’re excited for your upcoming project! Some people might choose to aggressively outline to ensure they don’t miss any important details, and others can’t wait to stick their toes in the water and jump right in. It’s exhilarating, it’s new, and you can’t wait to zip to the end and share your brilliant idea with the world. Maybe you jot ideas onto sticky notes, and maybe you make character logs to remember who’s who in your story, but what’s really important right now is you’re releasing all of that high energy onto a page. Everything is going smooth and you feel like nothing can stop you. You’re working your way through the chapters and loving every second of it.

Stage 2: Doubt

You’ve firmly placed yourself inside the world of your first draft, but suddenly this book idea that you loved seems to be falling apart. That one character seems flat and uninteresting, and that one idea that you were so passionate about doesn’t seem to resonate the way you hoped it would. You’re starting to doubt. It happens for some in the earlier stages of the draft, and for others in the later stages, but odds are you’ll experience this at some point. Sometimes it’s crippling. You just can’t stand to look at that flaming pile of garbage! You wonder how anyone else is able to do this, and question if you’re even cut out to be a writer at all. After all, you’re sure it comes so easily to everyone else (it doesn’t). If you have other interests, you’ll retreat into those for a time because you’re convinced you’re better at those things anyway.

Stage 3: Rock-Bottom

The doubt eats you alive like a lurking monster of the deep. In fact, you might even quit entirely and add the draft to the pile of dozens of other unfinished drafts you might have. What’s the point anymore? Maybe you’re better off eating a pint of ice cream in front of the TV every night instead of working on another terrible book. And what fans do you have anyway, your mom? And if you do find the energy to work on your draft at all, you hate it. You curse out yourself for writing basic sentences or straying from your original plot idea entirely. This is probably also the point where many writers experience the dreaded writer’s block. It’s hopeless, it’s pointless, and although you’re not getting any younger and need to get the book done, you’d really rather not continue.

Stage 4: Resurgence

This is where your story is really picking up speed and you’ve started to get over yourself and all your self-pitying. You’re deep into it now, and your characters are fully fleshed out and you marvel at how all the pieces are falling into place unexpectedly—or maybe very expectedly, but you never thought you’d actually get there until now. You also start to figure out by this point that it’s only a draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect! All the things you hated about it before can be fixed later. What’s important now is pushing through and reaching that final conclusion.

Stage 5: Satisfaction

You did it. You’re done. The last beautiful line of your book is written and wraps it all up with a big bow. You can’t believe after all that struggle and flurry of emotions that you actually wrote a book. Sure, it still needs to be polished, be passed along to beta readers, go through minor and maybe even major edits, but one of the hardest milestones to hit has been accomplished. You realize you can do it, even though at times it felt impossible. And now it’s time for a break! After all, you absolutely deserve it. Writing books is no easy task, and it’s about time you treated yourself…before having to go through this whole roller coaster again with the second draft.

If you’ve never written a book before, I just want you to know that you can do it! It’ll be hard at times, and you may even seriously question your writing abilities and ideas, but I promise it’s not impossible. If you have written books before, do these stages of writing a first draft sound familiar to you? Did I miss anything? A writer’s life is an interesting life full of all kinds of unexpected twists and turns, much like the stories they put on paper.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been trying to find my place in the writing community, and something that I’ve noticed is how many incredible, hardworking people are able to churn out book after book like it’s nothing. I’m constantly impressed by young authors who already have a large quantity of books for their potential readers to choose from, and even more impressed at how many of these same people have written full series. On the flip side though, seeing their impressive work left me feeling inadequate—like I haven’t been working hard enough. My inner voice kept telling me that I could’ve had a similarly large selection of novels too if I had just worked harder, smarter, and sooner.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that I cannot change the past. Could I have planned everything out better in the past to be more accomplished today? Probably, but what’s done is done. The only thing I can control is my actions in the present. With that in mind, I found myself vigorously planning my future books, hoping to “catch up” with everyone else. But now I’ve come to realize…it’s not a race. It might feel that way as I compare myself to others when I shouldn’t be, but it’s not a race. We all have a different starting point, different skill level, and perhaps most notably we all have a different pace. What might take one person three months to complete could take another person a year or even two, and that’s OK!

I’m trying to let myself breathe a little bit. Although I’m very excited for what the future holds for my novels I’ve yet to write, it does not matter a great deal what the authors around me are doing. I do learn from my fellow authors every day and admire their work ethic, but how I tackle my own workload is up to me. I shouldn’t feel intimidated by the way others manage their projects, because their projects are not my projects. I should only worry about what I’m doing and not on anyone else.

I hope to give all of my novels the time and attention that they need, and however long that takes does not determine how successful I am as an author. The writing process looks different for everyone. If you’re an author, how long does it take you to write a book? Have you found yourself comparing your process to others? Let me know in the comments.