Some things I've Learned as a Writer

I started writing when I was around ten years old. That means I've been writing a very long time. Sometimes with success. Sometimes without success - at least in publishing that writing. But the actual writing was always successful because words spilled out on paper. Perhaps not the best words. But words were written. 

In those childhood days, writing was simply for fun. The words bubbled up with joy and spilled out all across the notebook paper. The ink tracing of words somehow magically made a story. It was only later that I began to desire readers. The stories hidden away in notebooks were no longer enough. I wanted to write stories that not only came to life in my mind, but that would wake up readers' imaginations too. And so began my career as a writer.

Along the way I've discovered a few things about writing.

First and early on I learned that everything I wrote was not going to be golden. Writing was a learning process. I could improve. I could find ways to write better.

Second, I learned that writing better didn't guarantee that what I'd written would turn out to be what others wanted to read. 

Third, I learned that even when what I wrote found no ready readers, it was not wasted effort but instead practice. I had to write those words to get better at writing so that when I did find the right story to write, then my words might be so well written they would disappear before a reader's eyes as the story sprang to life in his or her imagination. 

Other things I've learned:

...that talking about writing is not writing. 

...that if I don't apply my fingers to the keyboard, nothing gets written.

...that I can't talk too much about a story before I write it or I lose the excitement of writing said story.

...that persistence is as necessary as imagination in getting a book on a store shelf. 

...that rejection, although painful, is not fatal unless you let it be. 

...that writing is hard work no matter how much you love writing.

...that even on the days when the winds of creativity don't blow on your writing sails, you can still write words that turn out to be not half bad.

...that it is easy to get distracted and do anything but write even when you badly want to write.

...that the most important person to believe in your writing is yourself. You are the one alone in front of the blank page. 

...that the most important thing I did to prepare myself to write was read and that even now after all these years of writing, reading other writers' stories is still as necessary as when I began writing.

...that even when I thought I should give up on writing, I couldn't. 

I am a writer. That's what I do. Thank you for reading some of my words. 

What lessons have your life or work taught you?

Deadline - Three Days and Counting

A goal is a dream with a deadline. ~Napoleon Hill

Persistence is the word I always tell aspiring writers they need to be sure is in their arsenal of writing tools. It's good to have a gift for words. It's even better to have the imagination to come up with unique and exciting story ideas. Enthusiasm for any project is a necessity. But if you want to succeed at writing, you have to be persistent. Persevere. Keep on keeping on when the enthusiasm flags, when the words desert you, when the imagination dries up like a shallow pond in a drought. Persistence is the stream of creativity, the thing that wears away the rock of doubt in your writing ability. 

Persistence is how books get written. One word after another. One sentence after another. One chapter after another. Having a deadline makes persistence a necessity. Deadlines mean you can't put off writing until you're feeling more creative, until life is less hectic, until summer vacation is over. I have a deadline in three days. I've scheduled something on two of those days. I'll have to go to the nursing facility to be with my mother part of the time on all of those days. Mother is not doing well so there will be no way I can work while I'm sitting with her. But I intend to meet this deadline. I think I can. I hope I can.

I read the new story over. It isn't perfect, but I think the story is there. It was hard writing all the way through. Some books are. Some books are easier. For the books that are hard, it's good to have a deadline. Something to keep your fingers on the keyboard when you feel drained of words and ideas. 

For years I worked without deadlines. That's because I wrote without having contracts. I wrote the book and then hoped an editor somewhere would like it. Less pressure. More freedom. Less success. I like having a deadline. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me pushing to get the stories written. But even when I didn't have contracted deadlines, I set goals for myself. Those dream deadlines.

July 1 is an exciting date for more reasons than my deadline. It's the release date for The Gifted. I hope to get a newsletter out on that date. Another deadline to meet. Bought a couple of prizes for my Celebration Giveaway. Come back Sunday for details.


Thanks for reading! Oh, and one of those scheduled days is a book fair in  Horse Cave, Kentucky. I hope to be there - unless Mom is worse. If you're in the area, come out and check out the writers and books.

Quotes to help you keep on keeping on

Here's a couple of quotes to help you keep on keeping on even if today you're discouraged. We all get discouraged. Some of us sometimes wonder if we should keep trying to follow our dreams. If success is out there anywhere. So here's some encouragement. Don't give up. Keep dreaming. Keep working toward those dreams.

"Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise." ..Henry Willard Austin (1858-1912)

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent." ...Calvin Coolidge


So may the Lord bless you as you persevere and persist this week and the next week and the week after that and, well, you get the idea. Nobody ever promised following your dreams would be easy.