Tyler Hillis

The simple act of writing “Book Update” as the title of this post fills me with joy.

Writing an entire book felt like a far off dream that was always a few years down the line. But I’ve put my foot down and demanded better from myself.

I’m now four days into my goal of writing every day this month and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made in recent memory. It has re-sparked the passion and creativity that sat dormant for far too long.

One aspect that has kept me moving along at a good pace was writing an outline for the book before setting off. I know the teachers in school always stressed how important outlines were, but I pushed back in my own projects. I wanted to feel the wind in my hair as I blazed new and exciting trails of thought.

But it turns out, those teachers were on to something. Providing yourself a foundation to build on top of is not the crutch I assumed it was. It’s a steady, fixed point you can realign to when things go off the rails a bit.

And let me tell you, I’m still feeling the wind in my hair as I write – but this time, I don’t have that concerned voice in the back of my head asking me, “but what happens when you don’t know where to go next.” I can brush that voice aside and point to my outline to say, “look, this is where we go next!”

I know this isn’t revolutionary stuff. This might be the most basic of “process” advice that writers give. But learning why it’s so important in an organic way has made me believe it much more than watching a Stephen King interview on youtube.

All that to say, I’m a little over 40 pages deep into the book by now. Each chapter has been an introduction of a new character that will be used throughout the story. But those introductions are now finished and we can kick off the plot.

Exciting stuff!