What’s belief got to do with commitment? In a word, EVERYTHING! God designed our heart and mind to only commit to that which we believe in. If we believe in our ability as a writer, we’ll commit to it. If not, we’ll run from it. Simple as that. Here’s the truth. If you were not a writer, you would not be reading this article. It doesn’t contain jaw dropping, heart stopping, gotta-turn-the-page material. It’s not a New York Times best seller. Its literary magnificence can’t be the reason you’ve made it these hundred words. No, you’re hoping to gain insight to help you reach your goals as a writer. I believe in you. I believe in your dream. But I’m not the one who’s under the gun in your dream. […]
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The Fast Draft – Should you or shouldn’t you?
I’m fast drafting a novel right now. Last night, after dinking around all day, I told myself to “get to it” and blasted out 2000 words in an hour. Give or take a minute or two. I’m near the end of a book so I know a bit of what’s going on. I have a feel for the characters and the story. Those random conversations characters have together started running randomly through my head a few weeks ago. Next week, I’ll end this fast draft and start rewriting. Most of the beginning of the story will change, I already know. The middle needs a lot of tweaking. With that in mind, I hope my ending is the most stable part of this fast, first draft. I’ll have things at the […]
Read the RestTaking Stock of 2011
Time to belly up… how’d your writing goals fair in 2011? Did you set goals? Did you keep track? Did you succeed? Even a little bit? I bet you did. Come on now, if you wrote one page toward your writing goal of completing a novel, you’ve succeeded a little bit. A very little bit, but you did something. We have a tendency to stick our heads in the sand when we think we’ve failed at our goals. At attempting our dreams. Why confirm that silent but deep down fear: “I’m a failure.” By taking stock of our goals, our success and failures, enables us to move forward with a better grasp of where we are and why. Often when reviewing a goal, we find we didn’t fail as much […]
Read the RestSeven Things Every Writer Must Do, Part Six: Add Value to Others
I love to encourage others. To motivate them and help point them to success. At the end of the day, if I’ve added value to someone, I feel fulfilled. For me to see a writer who is discouraged, afraid or lacking self confidence is like saying “sick-umm” to a bull dog. I’m all over it. You might say I jump on the opportunity because God gave me the gift of encouragement. While that is true, it wouldn’t work if I didn’t believe it. But, fortunately, I do believe in the human spirit and how much it can achieve. And I truly want to see everyone live up to their potential. To live their dream. Think of children. When they are faced with an unfamiliar task, they may be timid. They […]
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