Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.

You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.

This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.”

E.L Doctorow

I came across this quote quite by chance online. 

I had never heard of E.L. Doctorow at the time. When I looked him up, I found out that he was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for works of historical fiction. He was a prolific writer publishing twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama, including the award-winning novels Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, and The March.

Given his bio, he clearly knew what he was talking about!

I have this quote tacked on my pin-board, above my very messy writing desk. As I’ve steadily been writing my book, I have often looked up at this quote reflecting on the truth of the words.

When I started my memoir – I had no idea if I could pull it off, if I could write a book. I had a selection of memory fragments, my father’s email account consisting of 1000+ odd emails and a briefcase full of papers – essentially the ingredients of a potentially interesting story. But I had no idea how to write any of these things into a book.

One day, I sat down and just started writing. I did not know where my journey would lead, I had no idea what I was doing, I just wrote.

Four years, 35 chapters and 126,123 words later, I have a draft manuscript!

I don’t know if any agent will sign me or if any publishing house will want to publish the book. I hope they do. For now, I am just so proud that I wrote the damn thing. I’m proud that I focused on my headlights and just trusted that with each meter I travel, that the headlights would continue to illuminate my path forward.