5 tips to help you finally write your first book
We're facing the final weeks of the year, and with the start of 2026, new resolutions will begin. Perhaps, on some wish list, there's an item that says: "Write the book once and for all." A few days ago, at the Guadalajara Book Fair, I moderated a panel of Catalan women writers who have published their first novels. The participants were Maria Canelles (Against nostalgia, Editorial Angle), Montse Albets (Only earth, only rain, only mud(Ediciones del Periscopio) and Regina Rodríguez (Panties in the sun(The Bell). Of everything they said, which unfortunately wasn't recorded, I remember a few ideas that will surely be useful to those people who, this New Year, are thinking of finally getting down to that damned novel.
(1) Find out if you're a gardener or an architect
One day, someone told Regina Rodríguez that it was important to figure out whether she was more inclined towards fixed structures or spontaneous ideas. These are two ways of approaching a novel: you can be an architect (having the chapters thought out and the plot planned down to the last detail), or you can be a gardener (just going with the flow and, as Lluís Llach sang, letting flowers bloom at every moment). There's no foolproof method: if you've tried to make an outline and gotten stuck, take the plunge and then, if necessary, you can prune; and if you've gone straight into the forest and gotten lost among the leaves, stop for a moment and think about what story you want to write. Either way, a novel requires patience and persistence. "You have to keep going, without missing a step, you have to water the earth with the sweat of hard work!" Excuse me, it was inevitable to continue with the parallel.
(2) Family is not an excuse (work, perhaps it is)
A lovely moment in the conversation was when Maria Canelles, Montse Albets, and Regina Rodríguez talked about how they managed to find time to write. I asked them if, as mothers, it was even more difficult to find the right space and time to start weaving sentences together. I really liked their answers: the problem was never their children, but their jobs. They could set aside a few hours a week to isolate themselves and write, wake up earlier, or delegate tasks to their husbands; but what they couldn't do was have a clear head after being constantly in demand at work or facing extra hours of paperwork. Jobs that don't respect start and end times, the lack of disconnection from work, and many other factors complicate writing more than having children in the job. Albets said that she has the ability to sit at the dining room table, put on music with her headphones, and forget about everything else going on around her, something that, while family isn't an excuse, I think is quite remarkable.
(3) Don't let your idea of what good literature is weigh too heavily
Sometimes, knowing full well that there are people who have written excellent books (and masterful sentences, and precise words) can be inspiring, but it can also be a source of writer's block. This is what happened to Maria Canelles, who began studying Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the UAB and proceeded to write nothing for several years. Having so many role models, and such great ones at that, meant she had to overcome several fears before starting her novel. "If there is Hopscotch“Why do I have to write a book?” he wondered. The idea of the book as an object also put a certain pressure on him: imagining it published, physical, definitive, and with its own identity overwhelmed him. “I couldn’t be a part of it,” he explained to the FIL. In his case, Panties in the sun It's an approachable, light, fun work… And a true publishing phenomenon.
(4) Don't underestimate writing courses
It's a common theme among authors: some say talent is innate and that a good writer doesn't need to take writing courses, while others are writers precisely because they enrolled in a course and realized that writing was their passion. Or perhaps they already knew it, and the course helped them work on other things, like overcoming shyness or testing their writing skills. This is the case with Maria Canelles, Regina Rodríguez, and Montse Albets. All three had different relationships with literature, and all three have taken writing courses at some point in their lives. Albets, for example, is a bookseller, proofreader, and editorial consultant, and therefore had been immersed in the world of words for years, but the courses gave her the responsibility of meeting deadlines and, moreover, helped her get used to sharing her writing with others in a friendly but also critical environment. So, the courses influenced them in different ways, but they all find them useful and encourage everyone to sign up.
(5) Read, read, read
As children, Maria and Montse were avid readers, while Regina remembers the required school books with boredom. However, all three emphasize that reading is crucial for writing. In fact, Albets believes that "reading is the best school for writing." This is the other side of the coin to point number three (writer's block from overdoing good reading): idolizing great writers can paralyze you, yes, but it will actually give you much more that will stay with you. Another topic of debate among writers is whether reading other authors while writing your own novel is counterproductive. Some say it interferes with their writing and that, therefore, they prefer to isolate themselves for a few months. Maria Canelles, on the other hand, believes the opposite: "Precisely, I read to interfere with my writing and help it grow."
