In the morning, while having my coffee, while trying to make peace with the world, keep my eyes open, listen to the latest list of demands from my teenage kids for rides, money, food, a roof over their heads, I read blogs. After the kids are out the door, it’s my writing time, so it’s either multitask or go without. I multitask. (I suck at it, but I choose it.)
Here’s what I do, I check out a blog I like to follow. Look at their first post, read their first comment, and then go to that commenter’s blog. I don’t do any commenting myself. I can’t spell yet. I can’t connect two thoughts yet. I have coffee spilled on my robe because my hand has forgotten where my mouth is located. I just read.
And what do I find, an inordinate amount of writers spending their days querying and not writing. Now, who the he## came up with that brilliant idea? Where did that fountain of wisdom spout? Just asking. I totally understand, if you don’t query, doesn’t matter what you write. But don’t exchange one for the other. Keep writing. Keep moving through your story. Keep kneading your work. You are a writer. Writers write. It’s what we do best and it’s the most important part of what we do. Writing, more than anything else, is what will get us published. Not query letters. If you’ve ever had to read through a stack of resumes, you know this. They all sound the same. You flip the page and get onto the interesting stuff. More interested in the writing, than a description of the writing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no book in my hands. I am not published. I am absolutely no expert. (Not that you thought for one minute I was. Just pointing out that I agree with you.) So, what am I trying to say? Just what am I jabbering on about this time? Good writing will get you over the finish line. It’s the only thing that will. Don’t let your real work slide into the background.
Writers write.
There. That felt good.
Any advice you want to share?
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6 Comments (mind-blowing insights):
I think you just about said it. Write, write and write some more. Every page, every paragraph, every sentence, is part of the process. As is reading, so keep doing that, too, to learn from others.
Oh, yeah. I agree. Writers write. And revise. And plot. It's the best part of my day!
P.S. My mornings aren't possible without coffee either!
I blog and comment with tea for exactly one hour in the mornings. Then I write. And write and write. Then I blog and comment for a half hour during lunch. After I pick up the Monster Child from school, depending on the schedule, I either revise what I've written or call it good for the day.
Write every day, it's the only way to stay sane.
Glad you feel better. Hope you had a fun day writing and got tons done.
Totally agree. As soon as I revise my manuscript, I query but I also start on my next book. Each one hopefully gets better and one day...
Writing is great but to me, days off are also great. Love them. I'm just not one of those, gotta write every second of the day, chicks. No thanks.
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