Writing A Novel – sailing to the finish line… ~ 200 Days ~ Tribute to Jessica Watson

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Writing a Novel

It’s not easy writing a novel, and anyone who tells you it is possibly telling fibs…


Like sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson’s recent sailing voyage around the world, writing a novel can be a challenging endeavor, and there will likely be no considerable fanfare, celebratory party, or Prime Minister’s hero-welcome at the end of it either 🙁


Jessica sailed for over 200 days and covered some 23,000 nautical miles without seeing a fellow human- NOW, that happens to sound a lot like writing a novel, don’t-cha- think?

A novel will likely take over 200 days and 30,000 words or more!


Does sound familiar somehow.


Well, it should.


The solitude it takes to write a book will likely make you feel a lot like Jessica on those “testy” days on the ocean (see day 154 of her trip here). She stated, “I think I’m ready to come home now. Love it out here still, but enough’s enough.”

Many writers can feel this way about their novels, too, and it’s usually about here that many give up. To add to this loneliness and solitude, if you decide it’s time to show people your work prematurely, then you have to deal with the criticism and backlash that comes from sharing an unfinished product (by unfinished in this example, I mean fully completed 30,000-word novel but not “polished” not fully edited or “spruced-up. It’s not ready for sale”).


I guess what I’m trying to say in way too many words is,

NEVER GIVE UP!


And from someone younger than me who expressed the same idea so much better,


“I’m an ordinary girl who believed in her dream; you don’t have to be someone special to achieve something big. You just have to have a dream, believe in it, and work hard. Anything is possible.”… Jessica Watson.


See… told you I couldn’t say it better if I tried.


Good Luck, Jessica, with the rest of your life journey, and good luck to all the writers out there who want to complete their novels and are having doubts.


You CAN do ANYTHING if you believe in yourself.

Go on now, keep writing!