During one of the Singapore Writers Festivals, bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith said that we each have a novel inside of us waiting to come out. When people find out I’ve published two and written three, they ask, “How did you do it?”

My answer? Just write. Type the first word, and then the next, and then the next. Repeat this process until you reach 50,000 on your word count.

But as simple as it sounds in theory, it isn’t so in practice. For some of us, it can take a lifetime. Wrapping your head around the idea of authoring a 50,000-word novel from scratch can seem daunting. Thoughts like, “Can I really do this? Am I crazy? Who’s going to want to read it? Will it ever get published?” will swim through your head, arms frantically flailing like that of a drowning man. When allowed to flail often enough, I guarantee you that your dreams of calling yourself a novelist one day may remain just that — a dream.

• Dreama

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