What I learned writing Mars Hurts

So I debated whether or not I wanted to share this at all. I came to understand though that most, if not all, writers probably go through this. I spent a lot of time telling myself what a coward I am for not getting this done sooner. Was I scared? Is it my age? Can millennials (I am releasing ebook only) really like something written by someone born in 1974? Do I really have anything to say? Does the average book really only take in $77 in revenue?

Well, before I get too much into how this book was written, let me just answer all the doubting questions. Who cares? In the end, I wrote the book because I wanted to. I hope someone reads it. I hope you read it, but in the end, I wrote it because I wanted to. This is what I want to share with anyone thinking about whether or not to publish their finished work. Embrace that fear (and don’t read any negative reviews. Not yet).

I set out to write this book in 2014. I was going through a transition in my career. That led to a mid-life crisis and… Well, none of that matters. You’ll have your own reasons for finally writing a book as you turn forty. Now the important part to note is that this was in 2014 (I’m writing this in 2019.) Writing a book is harder than you’d think.

To the right is a chart of how I imagined how I’d spend my time writing the book. Now you might think this is funny, but it’s actually much worse. I know better. I used to write fiction in high school (half a book) and college (completed short stories). In fact, I intended to major in Creative Writing. When I learned this was an unlikely career I majored in Russian instead (also not a likely career as it turns out), so I must have missed the courses about grounding your expectations in reality.

As you might imagine, I quickly had to adjust my plan. I’d reread sections to refresh my memory and find an error, or a scene that didn’t match my updated view of my character. I began to think back to how writing worked in my youth. As I think back on it, there are other parts of writing a book other than the first draft writing. As I think about this today, endlessly rewriting sections of my first book in high school is likely the reason I never finished it.

It became clear that I would have to update my expectations of time commitment. The view really wasn’t much better though and I held this delusion for much longer. In fact, I was so sure I was close to done that in 2017 I announced the book was coming that summer on my newly created Facebook author page. Oops. The one comment I received back was from my cousin saying how proud she was of me. I suppose I should be happy that I didn’t invite anyone to like my page yet. I decided not to post anything else until the book was ready to publish.

The problem by this point is that my goals for the book shifted while I was writing, so my editing had to account for a change in tone as well as any plot points I updated along the way. I kept questioning myself as I wrote the book. At some point, I took a hard look at how long it had taken me to write this thing and it looked like the chart below.

Then I had to very honestly say to myself, “This thing could have been done if you just sat down and did it.”

And so I finally admitted it would be hard work and a time commitment. I admitted that maybe no one will read it. But I wanted to see how all the story threads worked out for the characters I created. I had to finish because I wanted to see the words “The End” on the page.

Besides, the rough draft was almost finished, and I couldn’t admit to my wife that I was quitting. Again.

Thus it was all finished in just under six months (I’m not famous yet – I still have a day job.) I hear that first book is the hardest one to write. Now that I’ve done it, I think I’ll have more confidence going into my next book (as long as I keep my distance from the negative reviews for a bit.) If you’re a reader, I hope you enjoy the book. If you’re a writer, I pray you find it within you to finish what you’re working on.