Things I learned writing a non-fiction book
Plus some recent culture I've been enjoying (and writing about).
I promised that I’d write about the book-writing process, and then it turned out that launching a book is such a whirlwind that it’s only now I’m getting to sit down and share something with you. Bonus culture tips at the end.
My debut non-fiction book Social Capital was published on 27 April by HarperCollins Ireland - thanks so much to all who pre-ordered and bought it (those pre-orders really did make a big difference to sales and helped it be a bestseller in the non-fiction paperback category for a week!).
For the last few weeks, I’ve been doing press for the book, including: An interview with Patrick Freyne for the Irish Times; An interview with Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio One; an interview with Gav Reilly on Newstalk; an interview on Ireland AM. I also did interviews with the Echo and the Daily Mail. I really enjoyed doing this questionnaire with Irish Tatler. Extracts have been published on The Journal and the Irish Independent too.
Writing this book was full of learnings, and I want to share some of them. I reckon they’ll be of interest to anyone who wants to write a book, but also to readers too, as it’s good to know more about what it’s like to be published.
Papers
There’s a pile of paper in my office that I came across while doing a Big Tidy last week, and dithered over whether to throw it out or not.
I’m not sure I’ll actually ever do anything with it again: it’s around two inches in height and takes up a considerable amount of space.
Some of the papers are out of order and various ones have scribbles in black pen or lines of yellow marker (used in lieu of highlighter) on them.
It’s the manuscript for Social Capital, and though I was tempted to recycle it (the actual manuscript exists in digital form too, so I’ll always have the PDF), I decided on balance it was good to hang on to it. It was partly for sentimental reasons, but also because it feels like there’s such a gulf between that big bundle of pages and the book that’s out in the world.
That was one of the big learnings from publishing the book - what you create at home, mostly alone, morphs into something entirely different once it is propped on bookshelves, held in hands or under arms, shoved into bags and into jiffy envelopes.
All of a sudden, it’s not yours anymore.
Here are other things I learned:
It’s a long game
I’m used to writing articles, and having very short deadlines (I think before this, the longest deadline I had was for my MA thesis, and that was a LONG time ago). It was difficult to even conceptualise what the deadline for a book was, which is partly because it’s actually made up of lots of little deadlines.
Some of these are imposed by the publisher - eg when they want an actual draft by - but some of these will have to be imposed by you.
Setting a timeline for research, interviews, specific chapters etc, helps to make it feel like you don’t just have one overarching timeline.
We don’t exist in the future, except in our mind - really, we only exist in today. So having imminent deadlines of any sort brings a sense of reality to the writing process. It took a while to learn this, but it helped so much.
Chapters
Instead of looking at a 90 - 100,000-word high mountain, which would seem huge and unconquerable (you might find yourself asking: why even try to scale it?), breaking things into chapters gives you smaller hills to climb up.
They’re difficult, yes, but you believe that you can achieve the goal. And you do. And each time you have to revisit the summit, it gets a little easier.
Life continues to happen
Life will continue to happen, no matter what stage of the book you are at. Crises will occur; work will need to be done; family members will need attention; sleep will be broken and caught up on; emotions will wax and wane and sometimes threaten to derail you.
I was working a fulltime job while writing Social Capital - but unless you are: rich; an author who gets a huge advance and who has savings and a supportive partner who has a high income; are able or willing to live on a small amount of money, most authors need to work in some capacity while writing their debut books and beyond. Sometimes, the full-time work turns to part-time. If you’re fortunate, writing books becomes a full-time job - this can depend on many factors, including the genre you’re writing within and the sort of advances you get. In essence, no two authors are the same but don’t expect to get a book deal and give up work.
On top of this, I had life events that I had to attend to - some of which were lovely (a trip to Italy to visit one sister, and my other sister’s wedding) and which took me away from the book for a good few days. (This was actually good - another learning: you need breaks!)
But then there were the life events that you don’t see happening. My book was due in November 2022 and I had bereavements in September and October 2022. My publisher was very supportive and kind, but both they and I knew that everything was in train and the book had to get finished. So I finished it. That month is a blur. Luckily, the draft was at the very final stage, but it was less than ideal circumstances to be handing the draft in. But that, as we all know, is life.
And really, I’m not sure how many people actually get the ‘ideal’ personal circumstances for any book to be written during.
It seems like that ideal is actually an illusion, so you just have to do the work anyway.
Exposure
Personal writing is a consensual, honest effort at exposing some part of you to strangers. You know that your words are vulnerable but you (hopefully) willingly put them out there.
When a book is published, you are put out there to the public: you in photos, you in videos, your words in interviews, your words in extracts of your book. It felt, to me, hugely exposing in a way I hadn’t anticipated (and I say that as someone who has willingly chosen a career that involves being on radio/TV a lot).
I only say all this as I’m not sure it’s talked about too much publicly. It’s good to remember: you need to be visible, you need to get your book in front of people’s eyes, you need to prove it exists and do your best to promote it. You worked hard - time to show off the results. I had a great conversation with the very wise Elaine Feeney on this one day which shifted my perspective on it all. (Her moving, wise and poetic second novel How To Build A Boat is out now, I have to add.)
Lately I’ve been thinking of another friend Sarah Maria Griffin’s (an author and an interviewee in Social Capital) memes about being ‘perceived’. Book publicity involves being ‘perceived’, and some will find that a lot more enjoyable than others. But it means that your book is getting out there, in front of potential readers, and that’s the aim of the game.
If you’re a future published author though, don’t feel bad if you find this difficult. Just know that everyone will experience it differently.
Writing is the point of it all
I absolutely love the act of writing, and even though writing the book was challenging at different times, it only crystallised for me that the most enjoyable part was the writing. When you get your thoughts in order and express them, then edit them and work to make them better… that’s the gold for me.
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If you’ve thoughts on the above, I’d really love to hear them - I’m conscious that everyone’s experience of this can be so different. (And if you’d like a more specific newsletter on writing/publishing from a debut perspective, let me know and if I get enough interest I’ll write a newsletter on this).
Culture I’ve been enjoying (and writing about)
I’m enjoying the latest Yellowjackets season, though it is a little baggier than season 1 - there are a lot of threads to keep hold of (I’ve actually forgotten why Elijah Wood’s character was in there at all?). I thought what they did with the looming question over what to do with a teen pregnancy was absolutely heartbreaking but felt true to the story. It’s a pretty radical show in many ways, given that it gives a large cast of both teen girls and 40+ female actors meaty, complicated roles in a thrilling series. So hooray for Yellowjackets, but I’m hoping the narrative stays fairly cohesive.
I absolutely loved Service, the new novel by Sarah Gilmartin, when I read a proof a few months ago - it’s a skillfully written story involving three narratives (that cannot have been easy to craft - kudos!), revolving around a court case. The book takes in the excesses of the Celtic Tiger and the development of the #MeToo movement as it tells the story of harassment in a Dublin high-end restaurant in the early 2000s. It’s gripping, truthful and has a knotty conclusion.
I’m planning on going to the Patricia Hurl exhibition in IMMA having been recommended by art critic Cristín Leach, whose recommendations obviously have to be paid attention to. It’s a retrospective so there’s a chance to see a lot of Hurl’s work. It’s only open for another week.
I recently went freelance, and my first published piece was an interview with the excellent author Sara Baume, for the Review section of the Irish Independent. It was a dream commission, and I loved doing the interview. It’s online here.
I’m really enjoying the London musician/DJ Nabihah Iqbal’s album DREAMER - she has a Jeff Buckley t-shirt on on the album cover, and there’s a total JB vibe to the guitar lines on this. The track This World Couldn’t See Us has a Diiv/New Order vibe, while there are splashes of Cocteau Twins/Boards of Canada on the first track, In Light, and Dreamer. It’s a grab-bag of influences, which is thrilling, really.