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Ignorance is Bliss

August 31, 2020 //  by Alan Watt//  Leave a Comment

I wrote the first draft of my first novel in just under 90 days. I’d been writing stand-up and screenplays for years, but very little prose. I had a strong sense of story, and a pretty clear first-person voice, but as a novelist, I didn’t know what I was doing — which, in retrospect, was a good thing.

There was no fear. I had no plans to show it to anyone.

Consequently, when I finished it, I was rather pleased, and a series of synchronistic events led to the book getting to a top New York agent, who auctioned it in a bidding war. The book became a bestseller and won a few awards — it’s also been optioned for film every year, which bought me a house.

Only later did an author friend of mine explain the odds of all of this happening. Apparently one in seventeen-thousand novel submissions leads to publication.If I’d been driven to get published, I doubt I would have written with the freedom that I did. The irony is that when I wrote the story for myself, everything changed.

Zen Buddhists call it “beginner’s mind.” Athletes call it “being in the zone.” Folks spend years cultivating this experience. I was just ignorant.

Join the 90-Day Novel and 90-Day Screenplay, and lose yourself in the process.

I can’t promise that you’ll get published, although a wildly disproportionate number of my alumni do.

However, I can promise you this. It will probably change your life.

Your fellow writer,

Al

Category: BlogTag: creative writing, freedom, getting published, writing

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