The 12-Month Manuscript: Preview

Many people, especially those who say that they know they could write if (insert excuse here) consider writing a mystical experience. They think that they can light some aromatic candles and wait for the Muse to show up. Tenesha Curtis knows better. I know better. And I would imagine that anybody who has written successfully knows better. It’s work.

The great thing about Ms. Curtis’s slim book is that it provides a road map for actually getting writing done, for — as the title says — completing a manuscript in 12 months. What you end up with at the end of the year is not a polished, edited masterpiece, but the required first step to get to that: a first draft.

The book is easy to read, easy to understand, and the ideas are presented with a good deal of pertinent wit. For those who have been walking around with an idea and excuse not to write it, The 12-Month Manuscript may be just the thing to get them off the dime.

▬Chuck Holmes, author of The Sing, More Than Just Cellular, and Small Stories

The beauty of The 12 Month Manuscript is that it cuts through the crap of excuses us writers like spewing about writer’s block, busy schedules, blah, blah, blah, and offers a direct, foolproof approach to completing a manuscript in 12 months or less.

Call me “Exhibit A” when it comes to procrastination. If you’re like me, then one of your favorite past times is formulating elaborate reasons about why it’s been taking you so long to churn out the first draft of the novel you’ve been talking about for years. It’s all too common for writers to trip up on the belief that they don’t have what it takes to write a novel — whether that be due to time, talent, resources, or a combination of all three. The 12 Month Manuscript identifies the real culprit behind why we haven’t finished our novel — we simply haven’t put enough words down on the page. This book provides a very basic and realistic game plan that anyone with a pulse can follow to write a complete manuscript. This clear-cut approach to writing is a tremendous tool to have for navigating past all the mental roadblocks we put up to convince ourselves it can’t be done. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone currently out there struggling to find the right strategy and the right mentality to finish their book.

▬Mary Beecroft, Writer

Writing is both the easiest and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. If you’ve ever heard yourself saying that you’d love to write but just can’t find the time, The 12-Month Manuscript by Tenesha L. Curtis is one of those books that you’ll keep in your arsenal with tips and tricks to work through scheduling your time to write in a reasonable and attainable manner without disrupting your entire life.

▬Amber Hansford, Author

Introduction

Thank you for picking up The 12-Month Manuscript. I am the author of more than a dozen books in various genres, including science fiction, poetry, and erotica. I have been writing since as far back as I can remember knowing how to do so, starting with keeping a journal. I am also the founder and CEO of Volo Press Books, a publishing firm serving individuals and businesses. Within Volo Press, I created Writerwerx. Writerwerx is all about helping expand people’s knowledge and skills related to the craft of writing. I hold workshops and facilitate writing groups through Writerwerx. One of those events, “The 12-Month Manuscript Workshop,” is the inspiration for this book. In this slender volume, I have included helpful responses to the questions, comments, and struggles of my attendees so that you can have a no-nonsense guide to getting your first draft completed.

My love of reading is genetic. My mother and I are the type of people who are never caught without a book and regularly visit our local public libraries (she’s worked at one for decades). The love of writing is a little different. My mother doesn’t like to write, even though she’s phenomenal at it. After I learned to read, my father would often hand me a book and tell me to read it and let him know what was in it. As you might have guessed, he is not the biggest bookworm in the world. But he is a talented craftsman. I’ve always been fascinated by his ability to disassemble, repair, or construct things that I can barely even operate. Seeing him build something out of a few parts and an idea is like magic to me. I believe this blend of loving to read and having a passion for creation turned into my obsessive need to produce literature of some kind — poetry, novels, essays, and so on. My father read children’s books to me since before I can remember (Dr. Seuss’ And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was THE book that turned me into a poet), and it was only a matter of time before I began taking over the reading duties for myself. My mother was my first editor, instilling in me the craft norms that would become the foundation of a strong ability to write well. Her talent for delivering clear, specific, honest feedback helped me be able to take constructive critique and use it without getting defensive or angry. As I grew into an adult, I sought out and accepted every opportunity I received to be part of the writing, editing, or publishing process, no matter where I worked or what I studied. Term papers, song lyrics, company newsletters, job descriptions, grant proposals, restaurant menus — if it involved text, I was involved.

After a life like this, including independently writing and publishing my own work, and writing on behalf of brands such as eBay, BMW, and Lipton’s, I have finally made enough mistakes to feel confident in helping other writers.

The premise of this book is that it is virtually impossible to be so busy that you can’t have a manuscript with your name on it finished within a year. I believe this wholeheartedly. Knowing of authors who produce as quickly as one 40,000-word book every two weeks, there is no reason that the average person could not do the same in twelve months. Producing a manuscript doesn’t require talent as much as it requires time management skills. In the next five chapters, I will focus on helping you produce enough content to begin the editing process. This content that you will create doesn’t have to be “perfect.” It doesn’t have to look pretty. You can make it look and sound the way you like later. Contrary to popular belief, the editing process begins after you’ve completed the first draft, not during.

Once you finish reading this book, my hope is that you will accomplish the following:

● Understand what a true manuscript is (oddly enough, many people have no idea).

● Be able to find and / or make the time to complete your manuscript in a way that works for your daily routine.

● Know what to do when you fall behind in your progress.

Instead of separating the theory and application aspects of creating your first draft, The 12-Month Manuscript combines a guidebook and a workbook so that you can accomplish tasks as you’re reading. This book can serve as a manual for those attempting a manuscript for the first time or those who have tried to finish one in the past. It doesn’t matter if you got stuck and gave up or if some life event derailed your progress (childbirth, new job, starting school, etc.). As long as you want to complete a manuscript, you’ll find valuable help and encouragement in these pages. However, this book is not magic! If you want to write your own manuscript, you will have to do the work. I can’t eliminate the hard parts for you, but I will lay out what has worked for me so that your writing process is as fast and easy as possible. I’ve included an annotated glossary at the back of the book that offers extra info about relevant terms used in this book. Words with an entry in the glossary will be marked with an asterisk (*).

I appreciate you taking the time to read this book and allowing me to be part of your writing journey!

Tenesha L. Curtis

Chapter 1: Think Like an Author

In this chapter:

● Beliefs that hurt the writing process.

● Beliefs that help the writing process.

✎

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of manuscript* creation, I’d like to address an issue that I’ve seen keep people from writing the first word of their project, let alone completing it — how they think about their authorship. Your mindset about this process is going to determine how much you get done and how quickly.

Wannabe Author Thinking

Here are two of the views people have about writing that only serve to keep them from meeting their goals (whether they realize it or not). Steer clear of these ideas.

“I can’t write like [insert famous author], so my book will suck!”

Please be aware: Everybody (the Stephen Kings, the Toni Morrisons, the J. K. Rowlings, the Amy Tans) has to get through a first draft* before anything else can happen. If you can flesh out your concept, your editing team will help you make the content shine — later. At this moment, as you’re growing your word count*, is not the time to be concerned about comparing yourself to bankable authors. This would be like judging a 15-year-old’s driving skills based on what a NASCAR driver can do. It’s unfair and inappropriate. The teen needs time to become a fully licensed driver, then a good driver, then they might be ready to consider driving NASCAR. You need to become an author*, then a selling author, then maybe you can start thinking about getting on a bestseller list. Crawl then walk.

Some people do seem to have a flagrant talent for composing riveting pieces using the written word. If this doesn’t describe you, don’t despair. If you have a good idea and a willingness to work hard and accept or hire the help you need, you can be just as successful as a writer with ten times the writing aptitude you have. This means hiring people like editors, formatters, proofreaders, and cover designers to bring your vision for your book* to life. If writing well doesn’t come easy to you, that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to, or can’t, product a great book. If you’re afraid to get outside help and want to do everything yourself, you’re more than welcome to. However, it’s likely that the quality of your work will suffer because of it.

Writing a manuscript is more about time management than it is about inherent skill. I have faith in you, if no one else in the galaxy does. I believe you can hit the necessary word count goals to finish your manuscript. You just need to figure out how to do it for your lifestyle. That’s what this book is going to help you do.

“I don’t have time to write a manuscript. I’m too busy!”

You, sir or madam, are a liar.

How do I know? You’re reading this book. Reading books takes (all together now) time. So, if you have time to read, you have time to write your manuscript. It’s that simple. Once you finish The 12-month Manuscript, you will already have space in your schedule for creating content. In order to complete a manuscript of novel* length in 12 months, you would only need to write 110 words per day. This is likely to take you somewhere between five and fifteen minutes. Remember that you’re not going to be trying to construct the perfect narrative for this first draft. Just get words on the page. If you’re considering creating an outline* for your manuscript, I recommend spending no more than an hour or two doing so. If you get too caught up in outlining, there’s a chance you’ll never get around to writing.

If you feel overwhelmingly busy, you would do well to recognize that adding to your word count doesn’t have to be done in huge chunks of time. If you could write for ten minutes as soon as you wake up and ten minutes right before bed, that’s still twenty minutes of writing time each day even though you weren’t able to do it all in one sitting. When you create your time inventory in Chapter 3, you’ll get a truer sense of whether or not you’re “too busy” to write a manuscript.

Don’t forget that you do have the ‘last resort’ option of hiring a ghostwriter. I don’t recommend this to everyone, though it is a viable option for some people. Hiring a skilled ghostwriter* is expensive. This is why I would reserve it for people who are truly too busy to write their manuscripts themselves and have a decent amount of disposable income (i.e., $1,000 and up) to pay a ghostwriter. If you are living so chaotic a life that you realistically cannot hit your word count goals, hiring a ghostwriter may be a good choice for you. Writing for others is why they exist, after all!

Author Thinking

As uncomfortable as positive thinking can be for many of us, if you can get behind the following ideas, you’ll make this entire manuscript-writing process a lot less stressful for yourself.

“My manuscript is a priority.”

You probably already think this since you’re taking the time to read a book like this one. Treat your manuscript like an infant that will die if not properly cared for. If watching reality television, taking midday naps, or making clothes for your cat push your manuscript to the back burner, getting it completed will be nearly impossible. We all have 24 hours every day to do whatever we deem important or worthwhile. Put your writing on par with other essential things that you do on a daily basis, such as bathing or eating. Yes, seriously.

“The first draft doesn’t have to be clean.”

I’ll crank that up a notch and guarantee you it won’t be clean, “publishable” copy. If you can’t accept this, you might end up trying to do everything (content editing, formatting, copy editing, fact-checking, etc.) during the content creation process. This slows you down. There is an order to the writing and publishing process that incorporates multiple rounds of editing by the author (that’s you!) and by other professionals. But if you don’t have a manuscript, you have nothing to work with. You wouldn’t put icing on a cake that’s still in batter form, you’d need to bake it first. Trying to engage in any form of editing as you’re creating your content is just as inefficient. Focus on hitting your desired word count above all else. It’s okay to give your editor a mess to clean up — that’s what you’ll hire them to do.

✎

In the next chapter, you’ll decide what your word count goal will be. I’ll also define a few terms for you, such as ‘manuscript’ and ‘short story*.’