Unfortunately, these ideas disappear with the beginning of another busy day at work. And I keep telling myself (justifying) that it's OK not to write daily. That even though I daily pray for a career of writing and don't write, God will see my heart and bless me.
But then I get real. God can only help those who help themselves and right now I am not writing so why would He help me?
There was a time when I would stay up til two or three in the morning just writing. Now, I make excuses; I work long hours, I'm exhausted when I get home. I turn on the TV because it relaxes me.
But then I hear about the tons of successful writers who speak about getting up at dawn to write for at least an hour or two which only depresses me more because though these ideas taunt me in the early hours, I just want to go back to sleep.
Lack of motivation could be one of the reasons. After finishing my novel, I felt drained. Not by the writing itself but the next step. The hours it takes to research agents and publishing companies and the many rules dictated by those companies. The drafting of query letters followed by mailing those letters. Then, the constant silence of waiting followed by the stream of rejections. This brings me to the brink of believing I've done all I can. But I know that's not true.
So I begin a list of what to do:
- Do another search for agents and publishers
- Look into attending a writing conference
- Ways to improve my query letter
- Ways to improve my book
- Research and enter writing contest
- Network with other writers
It's important to be your own voice, cheerleader, and ass kicker to motivate getting back on track.
In part III, I'll tell you how I decided not to just make a list, but to complete everything on that list.
Here's to making lists!
SB
No comments:
Post a Comment