Weekly Word Count

My total word count for the month of January, in case you're interested, is 40,325. Not quite up to NaNo standards, but still not bad.
On Monday the muse was with me and I wrote 5, 572 words. I had to count twice to make sure I was right.  The rest of the week I did add some word count, but I was meandering through the plot a little. I need to spend the weekend to figure out exactly where I'm going.
I did end the week with a total of 10,992 words, my best week yet.
If you read my post about my new writing gimmick you'll be happy to know I've already taken down 20 of those little note cards. Not only am I writing faster, so that I can pull all those cards down, but I'm also just writing more. More scenes, more nonsense, more everything.
 I tend to be a very lean writer, thinking about the story structure in each scene. This is a good thing for the most part, but it can also be very limiting. By pushing myself on word count instead of just finishing the book I think I'm getting a little more depth to my characters and my story.
All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about January's totals.
Here's hoping next month will be even better.
Cheers!

What Does 2014 Feel Like?

I'm done making resolutions. I have been blogging and yapping about writing since July and it hasn't done me much good. I still don't have a completed novel, and what's worse, I don't even have a story that I want to write.
With that sad fact I'm not making big plans or goals for 2014. My New Year's Resolutions will not be to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, or write more. Instead I'm going to focus on feelings.
What do I want 2014 to FEEL like?
Yes, it would be wonderful if next year brought me the small victory of a finished novel (even a terrible one) but finishing a novel will not be the main goal.
What is the main goal?
In 2014 I want to feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. I want to feel like I could run up a hill without getting winded and run down without limping. 
I want the feeling of freedom and skill that I had when I rode a bike with no hands.
I want the proud exhaustion that comes from a hard days work. I want to feel my hands around a warm mug on a cold morning.  I want to feel my heart pounding as I hike up a mountain, and feel my breath catch in my chest as I take in a beautiful view.
Those are the feelings I'll be chasing in 2014.

How does a person chase a feeling? That is the key, isn't it. I think it is to live in the moment. When you're in the middle of your day, stop and ask yourself how you feel. What does it feel like to be you at that moment? If it doesn't feel fantastic, if you're stressed or disappointed in yourself, if you're making yourself crazy with your to do list, then STOP.  Run at full speed (if it feels right) and chase a new feeling, a new way of being you.
For me, maybe that means writing 2,000 words a day or maybe that means writing 2,000 words a week, but 2014 feels like success any way you slice it.
How about you? What does 2014 feel like for you? Leave a comment, or write it on a piece of notebook paper, but this year make a commitment to feeling fantastic.

Ten Thousand Words A Day

On Monday, December 16th, I was feeling feisty and I decided to write 10,000 words a day for a week. Well, feisty isn't really the right word, mostly I was feeling like a loser because I hadn't been writing nearly as much as I thought I should.
Monday morning I worked out, then ran some errands and did some Christmas shopping. I had lunch with a friend and then came home to clean. By the time my son got home, at three, I still hadn't done any writing. I helped him study for his midterms, made dinner. (Actually I probably hit the drive-thru.)
Now keep in mind I still thought I could pull this off. I had a coke at around 5:30pm, told the kids it was going to be a late night for me and asked them to set their alarms for the next day. You know, in case I wasn't able to get up in the morning on account of all my hard work:)
I put the kids to bed at 8:30 and finally sat down to write. My husband was out of town so it was very quiet in the house. I didn't really like it. I started a movie, just for some ambient noise.
It was actually a really good movie,  I decided to watch it until 9:00pm and then I would turn it off.
At nine I turned the movie off, made myself some (caffeinated) hot tea and sat down for a long night of writing. I felt like I was in college again, pulling an all nighter. Cool!
Wait. No! All nighter's were so NOT cool. I would be completely exhausted the next day, I wouldn't get anything done! I decided it would be much more practical to write 20,000 words on Tuesday than it would be to write so late at night! (Yes, I really did think this made perfect sense!)
I closed the computer, watched the rest of Catch and Release and ended the day with zero word count.
What's the moral of the story?
You've got to just DO it!
I did write on Tuesday, but not ten thousand words. I did write on Wednesday, and Thursday too. Friday I went car shopping from dawn to dusk and Saturday was the same, but my total word count for last week was 7,409 words.
WHAT? I know, right. Where did that even come from? It's far from 10,000 words a day, but it's still pretty good.
Here's what I learned.
When trying to write ten thousand words a day...
-You can't separate your work into chapters or scenes or anything, just write one huge, long story.
-Don't look back to see what color your character's eyes are, or what their names are. You can fix all of that later, just keep writing.
-Don't Google anything. You wanna know how tall the Eiffel Tower is? Who cares! Check it later, just keep writing.
-And last, but not least, if writing is the last thing on your "To Do" list, it will not get done. Put it up there at the top off you list. Or better yet, don't make a list at all, just DO it!

P.S
For the new year my resolution (of sorts) is to put my daily word count into a calendar (photo above). I'm going to try, scratch that, I AM going to take a picture of the book and keep my blog updated with my progress. Hopefully 2014 brings lots of words...and maybe at least a few of them can form an actual novel.
Happy Christmas to you all! May 2014 bring you peace, good health, and joy...and maybe a best selling novel:)

Write It Now or Regret It Later

For years my sister and I have had a common goal. We wanted to be writers. We both believed that if we really put our minds to it, if we really worked hard, we would succeed.
We would meet at the library or a coffee shop with our laptops and get to work, but then something strange would happen. The coffee shops were too loud. The library was too cold. We realized we needed to go shoe shopping or we were suddenly starving and had to go to lunch. With all of these "issues", we didn't get much work done.
While at lunch we would talk about how difficult it was to be a writer. Oh, it was so much work and there was really no guarantee that we would ever succeed. We had the kids to take care of, volunteering to do at the school, and blah, blah, blah.
It went on like this for a while. We'd write a little, complain A LOT, and then go have lunch together and complain some more. It was really a lot of fun!
Then, slowly, things began to change. My sister quit meeting me to "write" and started writing on her own! How RUDE!
I'll admit it. I was trash talking a bit, "It's not right for her to abandon me!" "Who does she think she is?", but while I was trash talking, she was writing.  And a few months later she finished her novel.
Now of course, I wish her all the success in the world, you can find her book, The Corpse Goddess, on Amazon here.
But I was J-E-A-L-O-U-S! Jealous! Why was I so jealous? Even I didn't really get it. She deserved it, she did the work. Plus, there were hundreds of people who had published novels before her. I wasn't jealous of them!
 Now you may think you don't care about my sister and her book. You don't care that the doctor next door to you is a doctor, or that the girl you knew from high school is a movie star, but the reason you don't care is because you don't want to be a writer, or a doctor, or a movie star.
But I'd be willing to bet there is something that you really want to be. Whether it's an artist, or an entrepreneur, or a size six in your skinny jeans.
Whatever it is it won't bother you so much if some stranger succeeds. But when a friend or a family member succeeds, someone you know is so similar to you. They don't have the time either, they don't have the guarantee of success either, and somehow they did it anyway.
When they make it work, and someday they will, you're going to be happy for them, but more than anything you'll be asking yourself, "Why didn't I do the work?"
That's what I was thinking when my sister got published! "Why haven't I been writing?"
I promise you, all your excuses, the entire "poor me" act is going to seem pretty pathetic!
You will feel guilty for not doing what you really, truly wanted to be doing. You will deeply regret wasting time. You will regret letting yourself give in to the excuses. I know I did.
So, lace up those running shoes, start that business, write that book because the very worst thing you can say at the end of the day, or the month. The worst thing you can say at the end of the year or at the end of your life is, "I regret not doing..."

Camping Trip

Me with Jack and my brother, Joe

I'm back from my camping trip and man, did I need the break. There's just something about nature that puts everything back in line again.
We stayed at Lost Maples in Vanderpool, Texas. It was a beautiful area and despite the rain we got in some good hiking time.
It's been a long time since I've been on a hiking trail, Houston isn't exactly mountainous, but it was amazing!
On my way up the hill I wasn't thinking about how long it was going to take. I wasn't wondering how fast I should be walking or if someone would beat me to the top. I was just enjoying the time.

Monkey Rock

I was completely focused on the task at hand and loving every minute of it. It was the sort of peace that can only come from living in the moment.
Even when I got to the top, and the view was amazing, I was disappointed that the trip up had ended. The joy, for me, came from the hard work. The water breaks taken in a shady spot, sharing trail mix with the people I was with, or just walking on my own in the quiet. The joy was in the crunching of the rocks beneath my tennis shoes, and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the wind.
The top was just the end. Or the beginning of the end anyway, we still had to hike all the way down!
Nature has a funny way of reminding me to slow down and enjoy the little things.

Maya and Brian

With that in mind I intend to slow down a little in my life and in my writing. You're probably laughing if you have any idea how many self imposed writing deadlines I have missed, but what I mean is to slow down and enjoy the moments.
I'm going to try not to feel like I should be writing when I'm sitting with my daughter and she's telling me the names of every single stuffed animal she owns, "This one is Pixie Gouda Charlotte Earthaven, and this one is.."
I'm going to try and remember that these times will pass all too quickly and they won't come back again. I'm going to remember that slowing down to really feel the life I'm living is more important than getting my kids to bed at exactly 8:30, or getting my book finished by October 31st.
I'm going to remember how much I enjoyed that hike, and I'm going to remember that even when I got to the glorious view at the top I still felt that pang of disappointment for it being over. I'm going to slow down and enjoy the climb.

Jack and Brian

Oh, my God! Miley Cyrus was right, "It's the Climb"!!
What about you? What are some things that remind you to slow down and enjoy the little things? I'd love to hear from you.

Building a Mystery

If you read my last post you know I haven't been writing. I've been making excuse after excuse and I'm sure I'll fall back on that every now and again. In fact, at this very moment I feel like I'm going to throw up, but I'm not going to use it as an excuse today.
No, today I want to talk about writing. I want to tell you that I've figured out what my problem is...or was.
I knew there was something wrong with my book, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
I'm writing what I would call a paranormal fantasy for YA, but it turns out it's not that simple.
The problem, the reason I've been neglecting it for so many weeks, is that I didn't realize it was also a mystery.
We all know how a mystery works, right!? There has to be a red herring, clues dropped like breadcrumbs so that the reader can decide what's going to happen. Or better yet, not know what's going to happen, but then in the end have that "Aha! moment" where it all makes sense.
None of this is revolutionary, but that is the very reason I had to blog about it. By simply changing the definition of what I've been writing, it suddenly seems to make more sense.  Why is that?
I'll tell you why. Because we have to know where we're going to know how to get there.
It's because our sneaky, perhaps out of shape, brains like order. Chaos does not generally build a novel. Our mind wants a map, or at least an arrow pointing out the right direction.
And the best news, and if you read my blog you won't be surprised by this, is that I've actually read a book on how to write a mystery:)
Now that I have defined the fact that I need to "lay out the breadcrumbs" so to speak, it's going to be so much easier to move past this hurdle.
No, this is not the king of all writing advice. And yes, it may seem very obvious to you (give me a break here, I think I have the bird flu), but it was news to me. And it's helped me see my novel with fresh eyes.
So, if you're stuck in your current novel maybe try looking at things differently. Maybe what you're writing isn't chiklit after all. Or if the drama you're writing is actually turning out to be kind of funny. Don't make yourself crazy trying to fit it into it's original packaging, change things up. Look at it in a new light. It might make all the difference!

Nonproductive Writing Days

I have to be honest. I have been a little unproductive lately. School started in late August and I had big plans to finish this novel, asap.
I didn't get much done that first week of school because I just needed a break. Or at least that's what I told myself.
Then the second week rolled around and what do you know? Another unproductive week.  I didn't need a break anymore, but damn, there seemed to be a lot to do around the house. It turned out my kids didn't have comforters for their beds. How could I function one more day without them? I couldn't!
Picking out your child's comforter is a very important job and it cut deeply into my writing time.
I don't even remember week three, but I seem to recall something about trying to get into better shape.
But this week, week four, I would definitely get it in gear.
This morning I ran all my errands, cleaned the house, and painted my nails. This was not procrastinating people, I really needed to paint my nails. I bought a new Essie color almost a week ago and hadn't even used it yet!!
Anyway, after all that it was much too late to head to the library.  So I made myself comfortable on the couch with my laptop on my..well..my lap.
After a few minutes I realized the keyboard was really too low to be comfortable for an afternoon of writing. I got up and pulled a pillow off my bed and put it underneath the laptop to raise it up a little.
Much better! Then it got a little cold in the house so I got a blanket and put that over my legs.
Then, of course, I got down to business. The task for the day was to read the bulk of act two. There is something wrong with act two, but I'm not sure what it is. I started reading my manuscript looking for the problem and I may have found it. It may just be a tad boring.
How do I know this? Because I fell dead asleep while reading it. I woke up almost two hours later, laptop askew, dogs fighting for space on the pillow.
I was fully tucked in, up to my shoulders, and I had barely done thirty minutes of work.
The kids were going to be home in twenty minutes and it was time to start switching gears from writing (aka napping) to making dinner and greeting the kids after their long day of school.
Incidentally, I did not even cook dinner, but picked up fast food. What a loser!!
Why am I telling you this? Because despite my lack of productivity the last few weeks I still consider myself a writer. I still know that I'll finish this book, albeit not as quickly as I thought I would. And I also know that I could be writing a lot more often.
The bottom line is, if you haven't looked at your manuscript in a week, a month, or even a year it doesn't mean you're not a writer. If you have a book in you that you're trying to make the time to write, you're a writer. And good for you! Writing a book is not an easy thing. If it was, I wouldn't be looking for excuses not to do it.
Don't beat yourself up if you're not writing as much as you think you should. We all have days when we just need to paint our nails and take a nap.
Tomorrow will be a better, more productive day. If it's not...I QUIT!!
KIDDING!
Happy writing.
El

Three Act Structure

Oh the three act structure. Boy did I resist learning this in the beginning. I thought the three act structure was some sort of cheat to writing a novel. It's not a cheat people, it's the map! And now that I know it I can't live without it!
Knowing the elements of the three act structure (and using them) can really help you build a better plot. What is the three act structure? It's simply a way to divide a novel into sections. Act one is the set up, act two the confrontation, and act three is the resolution.
You don't need to follow the structure exactly, but just knowing what goes into each section is an easy way to help build a better plot.

Act One
Act one makes up the first quarter of your book and is usually the easiest to write.
It should include:

1. An introduction to the character and her world BEFORE the real story begins. How will the reader know how shocked, excited, confused, afraid..to be if she doesn't see the protagonist's normal first?

2. Show the characters "knot". This is essentially the pain that your protagonist is feeling that forces her to live apart from her true destiny. It can be a secret she's keeping, pain from the past, or even just a personality trait. Maybe by the end of your book the main character will be a super star and her "knot" at the beginning of the story is simply that she's shy.

3. Establish the tone of the book. Let the reader know what kind of story they're about to read.
For example: For a love story the writing would be flowery and romantic. For a thriller the mood would be darker, the sentences might be shorter. Make sure you get the reader "in the mood" for the story they're about to read. In other words-set the tone!

4. Let the reader know why they should care. Otherwise known as the "save the cat" scene. What redeeming or heroic quality does your main character have that you can show your readers right up front. Even if your main character is deeply flawed, show her redeeming qualities or make the reader feel empathy for her.

5. The inciting incident.This is the change that occurs in the main character's life that starts the story in motion. For example: A mysterious new girl moves into town. Your main character grows a tail. Whatever it is, it should get your reader's attention.

6. The call to action (or plot point one). This is often confused with the inciting incident, but the difference is that the call to action is where your character makes a choice and cannot go back.
For example: In The Hunger Games it is where Katniss volunteers for the games in place of her sister. Not to be confused with the inciting incident which is the drawing of Primrose Everdeen's name.


Act Two
Act two makes up the second and third quarter of the book. In the midsection of your novel you must:

1. Have a series of battles or confrontations. There are usually three and even if the protagonist wins a few of these battles, things should be getting steadily worse for your main character.

2. Deepen characters and their relationships with one another. The middle of your book is where subplots can really get going.

3. Midpoint. Some big news or a major reversal. This is where the protagonist truly takes control and begins to actively attack the antagonist. Before this point she is simply reacting to the situation or learning about her new world, but after the midpoint she's really ready for a fight.

4. Moment of despair. This is the low point for our protagonist. Even though we all thought she was going to win, it now looks like she's going to lose. Not only that, but we have really dragged her through the mud at this point. She is almost broken.

5. Moment of truth (or plot point two). This is the last piece of new information that the reader is going to get. With this new information the reader can now see what the ending is going to look like and the protagonist is about to take some big action steps towards the final battle. This is usually the thing that the protagonist wanted to do the least and after making this choice there is no going back.


Act Three
This is the last quarter of the book and will include:

1. The climactic battle.Your protagonist must take an active role in this battle. Don't let the antagonist be a weakling. You're main character really has to kick ass in the climax of the book.

2. Unravel your protagonists "knot" or tie three more. This means that you should have resolved the character's knot, or inner turmoil. For example: If she was painfully shy in the beginning, you should have helped your protagonist work through her issues throughout act two. In the end she is who she was always meant to be. OR if she decides to live apart from her destiny, (In other words stays painfully shy and can't take that starring role) you need to show the reader how truly horrible her life is going to be now. One would be a happy ending, the other a tragedy.

3. Denouement. This is where you tie up all the loose ends. Every character and subplot needs to be put to bed so the reader feels satisfied that you've answered all the questions you posed in your book.
This is also where you show the protagonist's new normal. How is it different than it was at the beginning of the story?

4. Resonance. Try to make sure your readers are thinking about your book long after they have read the words "the end".

There you have it, a quick description of the three act structure. If it's not making sense to you here, there are a ton of great books out there to help you.  "Plot & Structure" by James Scot Bell is a great one, but I hope this is at least a little helpful with your writing.
Good luck and happy writing.
EL

My Writing Schedule

School started on Monday (August 26th). My son, Jack, went to 6th grade. My daughter, Maya, went to 4th grade, and I went to work. On my novel that is.

I used Scrivener to separate my novel into scenes and printed out each individual scene to put into its own folder.  Yes, that is a LOT of folders. (94 to be exact)
Why print it out? Why not just work on it in Scrivener? Two reasons. First, I just prefer editing with a paper and pen. But second, and more importantly, is the fact that it's a lot easier for me (mentally) to handle a few folders at a time. I only take five or six folders (or scenes) to the library for each work session. Once I finish those scenes, I'm done for the day. Also, leaving the majority of the manuscript at home makes the work seem like a less daunting task.

My work schedule varies a little depending on my kids schedules, but it will be roughly as follows:

Monday: 9:00-1:00
Tuesday:10:00-2:00
Wednesday: 9:00-1:00
Thursday: Off (Unless I'm not meeting my goals)
Friday: Every other Friday work 9:00-1:00


I always try to leave the house when I write. I head to the library if it's open, and my second choice is a quiet coffee shop.
If I'm home, I feel like I should be cleaning. Or cooking. Or the dogs jingle their little bell at the back door and drive me absolutely crazy. If I have to, I can write at home, but I get more work done by leaving the house (and the chores) behind me.
What's your writing schedule? Are you a night owl? Do you work at your office instead of doing your real job (gasp!)? Do you write on your lunch break or while the baby is napping?

I am very lucky that my sweet husband allows me to stay at home. I take care of the house, my husband, and my kids and try to live out my dream of being a writer. I may have a little more time than those of you with a full time job AND a family to take care of, but if it is a priority you will find your own writing schedule.

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."-Confucious

Editing Your First Draft

I used to hate editing. I'd write out the novel and it would be so bad that I was sure there was no saving it. The changes that needed to be made were so great, and sometimes I wasn't even sure exactly what those changes needed to be.
But now I've worked it all into a five step process that can save almost any first draft.
Before you start I want to warn you that this isn't for the faint of heart. It's probably going to be more work than you want to do...don't say I didn't warn you!

Step One
I've heard that writing a first draft is like building a house of cards, but my first draft always looks more like a game of 52 card pick up. It's a complete mess. So the first step in this process is a very long one.
Clean up the mess. Make the plot coherent, make the timeline precise, keep those character's names and physical descriptions the same throughout the novel, tell the story, tell all of it. Work on it until everything is perfect. It should be the best that mere mortals can do.
Yes, that's just step one. Now proceed to step two.

Step Two
Buy or rent Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass. But here's the hard part, you actually have to do the exercises and use them to make your book better.
I'll fess up here and tell you that I have not done ALL of the exercises in this book. I know, I'm so ashamed. When he wants me to "find six more inner turning points" I usually do about half that. So I'll forgive you if you don't do it all, but the more work you put into the exercises the better your book's going to be.
Once this is done you may proceed to step three.


Step Three
If you've read my blog before you've heard me mention Margie Lawson's EDIT's system. Check out her website and buy the notes (or take the class). www.margielawson.com
She's going to ask you to highlight your entire novel in a plethora of fun colors. Yes, your entire novel. This class really helps you take the pulse of your writing, so to speak. It can illuminate the weak points in your book, things that you can't see anymore because you've looked at it about a million times. Highlight that book of yours and then fix the problems that you've uncovered.
Once this is done you may proceed to step four.

Step Four
This is probably the step you're most familiar with (besides step one of course). You're going to give your book out to a few readers who will help you edit. Now don't give your YA book to your great Aunt Ida who doesn't know what Facebook is. Give it to readers who are actually reading your genre. And give it to them with specific instructions. Sure, let them help you out with grammar and description, but ask them specific questions too.  Are they bored at any time during the book? And if they are, where? Why? Do they actually WANT to read your book after reading the first chapter? Do they care what happens to your protagonist? Ask them what they like about the book and what they want to see more of.
Don't you dare just let them tell you it was great and move on! I mean it! There is always room for improvement!
Once this is done you may proceed to step five...almost done.

Step Five
I'm going to have to admit to you here that I'm not a very good writer. (This may already be obvious from my blog posts.) I slam my fingers onto the keys just to get the ideas on paper, just to write out the story. There's no time in my mind for pretty words. You may be different. If your words are already beautiful you might be able to skip this step, but I recommend that you don't.
If you haven't already read Writing Tools 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark then do that now and use what you learn. Otherwise, just go through your book with an eye out for making the words better.  Make sure you have chosen every word in that book for a specific reason.
Next, make sure that your book has at least five beautiful, magical, wonderful sentences. I mean the kind that you've read in a book before that you had to stop and reread. The ones that you savor, the ones that make you feel something that lasts. Now this step is not as easy as it sounds. These Shakespearesque sentences don't just fall from the sky. You'll need to ruminate on them for a while, but once you've added them... You're done!

Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Don't worry, you won't always have to do this much work, but try it on your current manuscript.  Your novel will be better for it.
I'll keep you posted as I go through these steps myself. Yes. I really do all this work! I'm only 50,162 words into my disaster of a first draft, but when I get to the editing you're going to hear about it.
Good luck and happy writing.
EL

NaNoWriMo Wordcount Update

As you may know I'm signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo which means I am trying to write 50,000 words this month. I thought you might be interested in how I'm doing so far.
The truth is, it's not looking so good!
Yesterday morning I was at 21,900 words, not too shabby.  I should have been at 27,421 words, but I was close enough.
Then something terrible happened. I got confused. (It happens more than I'd like to admit.) The time line was giving me trouble. The character descriptions were changing. First one character had long hair and then she had short hair.  It was maddening.
Now these are all things that can be fixed in editing, but because I'm kind of OCD about things, I couldn't let them go.
I printed out my entire "novel" (MISTAKE) and read all 21,900 words. I won't waste your time here explaining how terrible I thought the entire thing was. If you write, you know what I'm talking about. I did resist the urge to delete the entire thing and managed to do away with exactly 3,467 miserable words.
I've been doing the math since yesterday. Different equations that all have to add up to 50,000 by July 31st. I could write 2,255 words everyday for the next 14 days, but weekends can be so hectic. Maybe I should write 3,158 words for the ten weekdays that I have left? Save the weekends for fun stuff like BBQ's and beers.
Either way it's a heck of a lot of writing, especially considering that I still haven't worked out all the details of my plot.
Like I said, it's not going well.
I guess I'd better stop procrastinating and get to work.
Only 31,576 more words to go and only 14 days to do it. Now if only I could find a way to get the kids into a camp next week! Hmmm.....

Forget Everything you Know about Writing

I know, I know, I just told you to educate yourself about how to write a good book. Don't hate me before you've read what I have to say.
First of all, if you've read books about how to write your head is probably filled with a lot of fantastic information. Wonderful.
The problem here, for some of us, is that all of that information can be overwhelming.
It can be damn near terrifying to think of all the things that need to go into your book. Where do you even begin?

Well, if the books you read were similar to the ones I read they told you to start with an outline.
You get the basic idea for your novel and then shove that into a framework, aka, your plot. To do this you'll need to figure out the inciting incident, the midpoint mirror, the call to action, antagonist's motivation, back story and the list goes on and on. (And if you don't know what I'm talking about here, I'll post more about that later)
 So, I did as I was told. Or at least tried to do it.  Months went by and no matter how I approached it,  I couldn't plot out the entire story. And worst of all, I hadn't written a single word! I didn't have a plot. I didn't have an outline. And I wasn't getting any closer to having a novel.
Then I forgot what I'd read in all of those books and just started writing. Yay! Freedom. Back to doing what I wanted to do in the first place.
I didn't think about the protagonist's journey, or the introduction to normal, I just wrote.
Now I'm 8,000 words in and I still do not completely understand why my antagonist is being so mean to my protagonist. Gasp!! Are you horrified?
The truth is, I wish I could have plotted it all out into a neat little stack of note cards. It would certainly have made it easier to write and, oh SO much less work in the editing process.
But my brain just doesn't work like that. I had to write about the characters to get to know them. And how could I possible know what they were going to do in the story until I knew them a little better.
The bottom line is that eventually you're just going to have to put the bit in your mouth and pull the cart up the hill. Yes, in this analogy you are the horse and your book is the cart.
Will you still have to take the time to plot out your novel? Yes. Will all those fancy things you learned in the books have to be put into your novel? Yes.
Is it going to be a lot of work? Yes. But the important thing is to write it. Just put those words on the page and you can work on the details later.
But don't stop reading those how to books! You'll definitely want to have all that information for your vast amount of rewriting:)