As I sit back and reflect on my journey to becoming an author, I am sure most of you just like me have heard people say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I just don’t know where to begin. How did you do it?” Well the first thing I would like to admit is that it took me a long time to finally get my first book done.

I like many of you have always wanted to write a book, but I didn’t think I had enough to say or that anyone would be interested in the things I wanted to write. Additionally, I always saw my deficits and limitations as reasons why I could never author a book. I felt my visual impairment would preclude me from doing anything important and people wouldn’t take me seriously because I was viewed as limited. However, God had other plans and people in place that would ultimately change my mind and my attitude about myself.

How My Journey Began

Although it took many years for me to finally come to the realization that I could tell my story and someone would actually listen to what I had to say, I had to start and stop numerous times before I made up my mind to make it happen. Just like so many people, I started writing at a very young age, but I lacked the confidence and the tenacity to push my way through the down times; therefore, I thought of writing as just a hobby and not something people like “me” could really do. After all, I am not James Baldwin, Zara Neil Hurston, Mark Twain or anyone of any notoriety who could ever hope to have people actually want to read the words I had to write. Boy was I wrong! No matter who you are or what you have to say someone wants and needs to hear it. Good, bad or indifferent someone needs what you have to offer.

I never lost the urge to write, but I allowed the years to pass as I would jot down a few thoughts and sketches for things I wanted to say if I ever wrote a book. I would often tell my husband how I plan to write one book or another, but he would always say, “You keep talking about what you are going to do, but you never get it done. You are a jack of all trades and a master of none.” I suppose he was right because I wanted to do so many things and writing was just one of them, not necessarily my priority. As I allowed weeks, months and years to pass, I had begun to feel the urge to go back and pick up one of my many books I started writing down through the years and finally get one of them completed. However, I had no clue what to do or where to start to make this desire become a reality.

I’ve always believed that when the time is right things have a way of aligning themselves in a way that you have no doubt as to what you need to do and that is what happened for me. One day while I was looking around on Twitter, a tweet popped up into my feed from someone named Nikki Woods offering a free webinar for “wanna be” authors. I did not know her personally, but I knew of her work as a producer of the Tom Joyner in the Morning Radio Show (TJMS). Her tweet asked some very poignant questions that sparked my interest. One of the questions she asked was, “Have you been talking about writing a book for a long time, but you don’t know where to begin?” Well, needless to say that got my attention and I wanted to know more about her proposal to help me figure out where to start and what to do to finally finish a book. I was very reluctant to click on the link, but I knew she was a real person and I knew her work from the radio show. Consequently, I felt a little less skeptical about trusting her motivation for the tweet. That decision turned out to be the best decision I ever made because I learned some valuable tips and strategies that helped me to finally complete my first book.

Ms. Woods may never get to know me personally or read my book, but her words ignited something inside me that made me want to move forward with my long time desire to write a book. Hopefully, one day I will be able to let Ms. Woods know how much her words and information helped me to organize my thinking and get down to the business of writing the book I said I wanted to write. But even if that doesn’t ever happen, I can feel good because I accomplished my goal. As a result of finally getting started, I completed my first book, Enlightenment, Looking Back To Move forward in 2017 and I have now published a second book entitled: Enlightenment II, Building Self Esteem Through Poems and Positive Affirmations in 2019. I am now working to complete book number three and four. Sometimes the encouragement you need may come from places you never thought possible, but if you keep an open mind and a little bit of faith in yourself you’ll be amazed at what you can do.

Most of you who are reading this article probably have already written a book or two, maybe even more, but I am sure there are people in our group who are struggling to make their dream of becoming an author come true. I know many of the things I said won’t apply to everybody, but to those who can identify let’s use this opportunity to help ourselves and others. It’s never too late to tell your story and inspire someone else to tell theirs.

Tips to Getting Started on Your Journey to Write A Book

Below I have listed a few tips I know will help you get motivated to take the next steps on your own writing journey:

There are so many resources available to help  you on your journey, like, formal classes, writing groups, webinars, internet based articles, mentorship’s, etc., that can help you accomplish your goal. Your job is to find the one that fits your needs and will encourage you to move forward. If what you have to say is important to you, then it’s worth saying to someone else.

Remember, if someone else has done it, that means you can do it too. Just get started.

Debra A. K. Thompson

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