My birthday’s coming up. I’ll be 45. I’m firmly rooted in midlife. I may be “in the middle of the journey of [my] life” (Dante’s Inferno), but that doesn’t mean I need to slow down, or that it’s too late to fulfill childhood dreams. If you think you’re too old (or too young!) to write a novel, you’re not. There’s no “window of opportunity” to write one. You write a novel when you’re ready to finally commit to writing it. You can commit at any time, but it does take commitment. Expect months, but more likely years, to create a manuscript you’re truly proud of. That’s a long time to devote to a project, so it’s important you really want it and that you love it. For most of us, that means finding our people: surrounding ourselves with a tribe of like-minded individuals sharing a similar dream to hold ourselves accountable.  

Have you found your people, and you’re ready to commit, but you’re genuinely not sure how to begin? Start with your why. Why do you want to write a novel? More specifically, why do you want to write this particular novel? It sounds simple, but doing some deep-dive journaling into your why can unlock the door to your creativity.

When I first began working on my novel way back in 2021, my biggest pain point was not knowing how to start. Sure, I’d written and published a lot already by that point, but the pieces I’d written were short and mostly nonfiction. Tackling such a large piece of fiction was daunting, but it was also something I’d wanted to do for so long (since I was like five years old). Novels are my absolute favorite form of writing, and I knew I had it in me to write one. I’m a strong writer, and I’m smart, I’d remind myself. I can figure this out!

So, I took all the steps you’re probably taking right now: reading craft books, watching webinars, studying beloved novels, and toiling away for hours alone on my laptop. I made some progress, but the progress was slow and full of doubt: Is this right? Does this make sense? Why do I feel stuck? I’d find myself spiraling, which would lead to long stretches where I stopped working on my novel altogether.