I mentioned I was a romance writer when I was flying home the other day.

“How do you know what to write about? How can you write that much?”

If you’ve always wanted to be a novel writer and have yet to do it, the answer may surprise you.

To be a writer, you have to write. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. That’s the secret.

Of course, you have to be disciplined in writing. You have to want to write. You have to work to improve.

If you want to write, write. If you want to be a writer, study other writers. If you want to make money from writing, make it your career.

Only then will you commit yourself to what it takes to become a paid writer.

And also give yourself challenges once in a while to become a better writer.

Like the challenge I gave myself on my birthday last week.

I’d been thinking about it for weeks, months really. With so many writing tools online, I’d thought about how much fun it would be to write a novel over the course of one year, one small chapter at a time. The characters would develop daily. I’d have very few truths to start with – just names, ages, and a few characteristics.

The characters would change based on what’s happening in the world, what day it was, what season it was, and what I felt they would be doing at that particular time.

Interesting project, right?

And what makes it even more interesting is there is no editing along the way. What happened last week or last month is online and readable. Which means I can’t go back and adjust based on a new concept or idea. Nope. They exist based on what I type each day.

As a writer, I look for challenges. And this sounded like fun. Why not?

So as of May 5th, The Great Romance Experiment began.

Want to read along?

One new post will go up each day. Follow me if you want to follow along.

I’d love to hear what you think of the story along the say.