Why you probably won’t write a romance novel

Are you horrified that I made such a comment? Where’s the motivation? The inspiration?
 
Relax, it’s here. But, this time of year is shocking for making really BIG resolutions/promises/goals. Like, I want to lose 25 pounds, or kayak across a glacial fjord (is that a thing?), and, of course, I want to write my first romance novel.
 
Here’s the deal: writing your first romance novel is a BIG thing. If it weren’t a big thing, everyone would be doing it. It’s Everest to the novice climber, the Comrades Marathon to the Parkrun plodder, and Masters’ Math to the eighth-grader. 
 
So, what happens? This particular resolution/promise/goal gets shuffled along to next year, and the next, until, whaddayaknow? you NEVER write the book. 
 
Is it the wrong goal? Almost, never. It’s the approach. 
 
How do you eat an elephant? One spoonful at a time. Ditto, writing a romance novel.
 
Step-by-step.
 
Instead of:

1. Write best-selling romance novel
2. Work out marketing plan
3. Retire on yacht in Caribbean

 
Try break it down (and I mean really break it down):

1. Decide which sub-genre of romance to write in. 
2. Read a few romances from those sub-genres to get a feel for the market. What kind of heroines are being written about? Heroes? Settings?
3. Investigate who the major romance publishers. Which one sounds like a match for you? What are they publishing at the moment?
4. Consider the tropes you like the best.
5. Maybe write up a few ‘what if’ scenarios that could shape your plot.
6. Hang out with cool people from ROSA or any other local romance writer chapters for inspiration. 
7. And so on and so forth…

 
No-one’s asking for you to whack out the entire first draft in two weeks. But 500 words a day? A thousand? Yeah. Doable. 
 
Ask any tortoise - slow and steady wins the race and beats anyone still procrastinating.
 
By tackling the monumental task of actually writing the book in smaller steps, you’ll find that instead of putting it off, you’ll be looking forward to it.

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