Update 3 – Writing plan for March

Well, it was another rather lame week where I failed to hit most of my goals. I wrote practically nothing new, and didn’t do half the editing I should have.

Still, I did do some editing, so it wasn’t a total loss, and I wrote quite a bit for the blog. Writing what I shouldn’t be writing is better than no writing at all – lame justification. A better excuse is that I was busy with organising and running a book stall at the local fete, but even so, I should have hit a few more marks than what I actually did.

Hopefully I’ll make up for the last couple of weeks over the course of this week.

Make a decision

Why is it so hard to complete a novel and get it on bookshelves?

It’s not really all that difficult if you stand back and look at it objectively.

  • You write, the word add up, and eventually there’s enough words to call it all a novel.
  • You rework it, get some feedback, fix it further, add a final coat of polish and send it away.

Its a process. Its simple. Repeat it often enough and you’ll eventually hit gold.

Why then do so many people get bogged down?

The fact is, it takes time – a sustained effort over a long period – to complete a novel, and then it takes a whole lot more time and effort to get it published.

Any sort of sustained effort is difficult because real life inevitably throws road blocks at you.

So how do you keep the enthusiasm up?

Make a decision.

“Yeah, I did that, but…”

No! Make a decision. A real decision! The kind of decision that goes like: “I’m going to do this no matter what!”. Not the “I’m going to write a novel” kind, because that’s giving yourself leeway to ‘always be writing a novel’. As Yoda says, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

The moment you commit to it however, it becomes easy.

Real life stops throwing road blocks in your way because you can see them for what they really are: speed bumps. They may slow you down a bit, but they can’t stop you any more.

Once you’ve made the decision, there isn’t a speed bump out there big enough to stop you. You’re going to get a novel on the shelves no matter what!

Follow

Get every new post on this blog delivered to your Inbox.

Join other followers: