Saturday, August 2, 2014

STAY HOME

by Ursula Renée

 


In order to advance your writing career, you joined several writing organizations and attended all the meetings and conferences. In fact, you did everything you could think of to prove how serious you were in fulfilling your dream of becoming a published author…everything, that is, but write.

Whenever someone inquired about the status of your novel, you replied that you are working on it. You sometimes added that family, work or other obligations left you with little time to devote to your writing. The excuse is believable since life has a bad habit of getting in the way of peoples’ dreams. However, instead of blaming life for taking up all your time, you should consider how your writing career is getting in the way of your success.

Work and family take precedence over your writing and cannot be ignored. However, the moment you heard about a workshop, you did not hesitate to sign up for it. You then rearranged your schedule so you could spend eight hours learning how to breathe life into your characters, build worlds, edit your manuscript, pitch to editors and market your book.

The workshop may have been informative and you walked away with a lot of knowledge about writing and publishing. Unfortunately, you were unable to apply anything you learned as you could not edit a blank page.

To farther your career, you should consider skipping the next conference. Instead, go to a writer’s retreat, visit the library or simply find a quiet room in your house. Then, use the time you would have spent learning how to write to actually write.

Your career will begin to move forward once you have words on the page.♥

 

Ursula Renée is the President of RWA/NYC. Her historical romance, SWEET JAZZ, will be published by The Wild Rose Press. When she is not writing, she enjoys photography, drawing and stone carving. Visit her at www.ursularenee.com.

1 comment: