Some of you may have wondered, just what it might feel like to write your own novel.  To create something that never before existed and instill it with vibrant literary life; to put words into characters’ mouths that are completely different from anything you would say yourself, or even believe in, in real life.  To be the world at your fingertips and watch something come out that you sometimes swear had to come from some higher power for surely no mortal could write thusly?

The feeling of accomplishment may be hard to describe so I’ll let you do it for you.

Think of the best book that you’ve ever read.  One that drew you through six different emotions before you were finished with it.  Think back to that book and simply recall what you felt while reading the story.  When it was sad, when a character lost something, did you tear up?  Or when a beloved character died so tragically, did you weep?  Think back to the heroic moments, the self-sacrifices, or those times when you were on the edge of your seat wondering if the guy would pull out of it in time.  Did you cheer when the hero finally claimed a victory?  Cheer openly so others around you began to wonder what’s with the nut and his book?

Think back to your favorite villain.  The one who you swear should be wearing a black hat and twirling his mustache, the one who’s sinister voice you can hear dripping from the page.  The type of villain that has you wondering if anyone will ever best this guy, even as a secret part of you quietly admires his handiwork.  Then when this villain finally gets his comeuppance, did you actually jump up out of your seat screaming?

Think back to that most special book that you’ve read that had you experiencing all this, that book you could simply not put down even as someone is trying to drag you off to school or work.  Think of every legendary moment you experienced during its reading and how you never wanted it to ever end… unless there was another book in that series awaiting your divine pleasure.  Remember everything you felt while reading this greatest book of your collection, feel it in your soul as it lingers there; that time when you were so high up in the clouds that you could see Cloud 9 far below you and never wanted to come down.

Now picture that you’re the guy that wrote such a book.

That feeling you had just from the reading?  Multiply it a thousand-fold and you begin to understand when something like that spills out from your brain through your fingers to the keyboard.  You’d want to shout it from the highest mountain, pull complete strangers off the street to tell them about it, then realize that you can do it all again by starting another story.  You vibrate with energy and will do anything to keep that feeling.  It’s like walking the clouds (and if you keep reading the “Maldene” books, you’ll discover to what that refers).

You write, and that makes you want to write some more… and more.  At some point a more practical part of your brain realizes that you have to make some money from this enterprise so that you can keep on doing it and pay the bills, so you stop giving away free copies and go about trying to figure out how to sell it (but that’s another story that I’m still trying to figure out).

Can you imagine that feeling?  It’s what you get from being a creator, a thinker, it’s enthusiasm in its purest form.  It tickles your skin from the inside, sends your scalp to tingling, and makes your heart race until you feel that you can do anything.  Do you feel it yet?

If you can imagine that feeling, draw it out from within yourself, then use it.  You may not be a writer, but I am quite sure that there is something that you can do with a similar proficiency that will engender such a reaction within your soul.  Find it, pursue it, and DO it.  Soon you’ll be doing what others will term “miraculous”.

THAT is what it feels like to write your own novel.