Need some inspirational words to help prod you along in your writing career? I know them! Not only do I know them but I’m willing to share them with you today. So, hold on to your hat!
You. Will. Not. Live. Forever.
It’s true. No matter if you’re 25 or 75, somewhere in the back of your brain you're saying, “It’s OK, I have time.” It’s time to start answering back, “Yes, but not an infinite amount of time.” This revelation came to me when, while interviewing a small publisher for an article, she prodded me to send my manuscript and I shrugged her off until she said, "Are you going to wait fifteen years to send it out?"
Fifteen years. Fifteen years is a long time but I lost twelve years of creativity to a 9 to 5 job and looking back it feels like the blink of an eye. I don't know about you but I don't have fifteen years to start my creative writing career.
I don’t know about you but, too often, I am quick to put things off until tomorrow when it comes to my big goal. I’ll ask a friend to be a beta reader – approach the agent – polish the proposal…tomorrow. It’s not that I don’t do anything toward my big goal. I’m just casual about pushing it off until tomorrow, or next week when all the smaller goals have been met. The article written, the source contacted, the book reviewed. It’s easy for me to justify the delays because the small goals are the ones that help pay for pesky things like electricity and groceries in my home. The problem is, these small goals keep getting replaced with new small goals and somehow the big goal is left sad and neglected waiting for that tomorrow that never seems to arrive. It’s time to move your big goal – whatever it is -- to the here and now.
Step 1: Identify your ultimate writing goal. Only you know what it is. Publishing a book? A magical yearly earnings? Breaking into a particular market? Attending a writers’ conference?
Step 2: Write it down. Yes, I know this is a scary thing. To have that goal hanging around your bulletin board, taunting you. But that’s the whole idea.
Step 3: Decide on a minimum time you’ll dedicate to that goal every day. (Yes, you can take weekends off. Or only work on weekends. What works for you?) You still have to earn a living, water the plants, attend the soccer games, sleep. So, let’s not go crazy promising hours each day to the goal. Sure, there will be days when you exceed the goal but for now let’s choose something reasonable. How about 15 minutes?
Step 4: Block out 15 minutes and just do it! Whatever it is…writing, researching, making contacts…whatever will move you along the path toward your goal. For 12 minutes. Yes, 12 minutes. The final 3 minutes are for asking yourself, “What’s the plan for tomorrow?” and writing it down. After all, you don’t want to waste tomorrow’s 15 minutes asking yourself, “What should we do today?”
Step 5: Repeat Step 4.
Maybe you will reach your goal on the 15 minute plan. Maybe the 15 minute plan will just get you over a tough spot to where you can dedicate more time to your goal. Maybe the 15 minute plan will help you realize this isn’t your real goal. Whatever the final result, at least something will be happening and you won’t wake up one day and ask, “What happened to the last year, 5 years, 15 years?”
I’d like to tell you this is a flawless plan. But I can’t. There will be the day you say, “Who am I kidding? This will never happen.” And you’ll throw Step 4 out the window and go play with the puppy or sort out the junk drawer or eat ice cream instead. I highly recommend Hershey‘s Key Lime Pie Ice Cream.
But this is the key: one cheat day doesn’t mean you have to abandon the whole plan. So, the day after cheat day get right back to your 15 minute plan. Yes, it’s hard after you’ve broken the momentum. Yes, it’s easy to doubt yourself. But if you just push yourself through that first 15 minutes you’ll soon find that cheat day a faint memory.
Who is ready to join me for 15 minutes a day?Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains. She spends her 15 minutes editing historical fiction and musing about ways to kill people. She's not homicidal - just plotting a mystery book. She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing and a freelance writer for anyone who will have her. Get to know her @jodiwebbwrites, Facebook and blogging at Words by Webb.
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