5 Steps that Will Free You Up to Write Your Book
Are you finally ready to conquer the if-onlys and the yeah-buts and knock that badmouthing little gargoyle of negativity off your shoulder so you can get to your true passion of writing?
I’ve been mentoring writers just like you all over the world for decades, so there’s not an excuse I haven’t heard for why someone’s great book idea hasn’t been started or finished.
I tell them how I’ve written more than 185 books, and I hear sigh-laden responses like this:
Yeah, but I have a spouse to worry about…
Yeah, but kids demand a lot of time and effort…
Yeah, but publishers aren’t exactly beating a path to my door…
Yeah, but I’ve never written a bestseller, so I have to work fulltime too…
If only I had more time…
If only I had more resources…
If only I had better equipment…
If only I was a known name in the publishing world…
Okay, let’s stop with the excuses and get serious about the discipline and the craft.
Fact: We all find time to do what we really want to do.
I’ve been deliriously happily married for more than four decades, and that wasn’t accomplished by putting my wife second to my writing career.
Dianna and I raised three sons to healthy and productive adulthood, and I rarely, if ever, missed one of their important life, church, or school events. By maintaining my family priorities, I was able to write without guilt—and, thus, more effectively.
Do you think I was always famous for writing bestsellers? If you know of me, it’s likely because of the Left Behind Series™, which came 20 years and 125 books into my career.
I started with a manual typewriter on a board plank between two kitchen chairs.
Bottom line: I was once where you and every other writer once was—unknown and unpublished. I had what we all still have: 168 hours in a week.
So let’s shuck the excuses and get going, together. A year from now you’ll be glad you made these changes.
5 Steps that Will Free You Up to Write Your Book
Carve out the time. You won’t find it. You have to make it. Go ahead and read that again. Schedule it and keep it sacrosanct (look it up).
Go on a media fast. Social media, television, podcasts, you name it—all zap precious writing time. So commit to cutting it out (or going dark for certain hours each day) if you’re serious about writing. Use an app like Antisocial to block pesky Internet distractions. Turn off the TV. The only way to write is with seat in chair.
Get up early or stay up late. If you have a job, a spouse, and kids, they are your priority and you need to maintain them as such. If writing isn’t worth this sacrifice, you don’t want it badly enough.
Don’t buy into your fan club. Stop listening to relatives and friends who praise your writing, unless they’re in the business and have a clue. They’re being nice, but they aren’t helping you get better and get published. Develop a thick skin and learn to take criticism from people on the inside.
Silence your inner critic—and GO! Don’t listen to that critic camped out on your shoulder either. That’s just you in disguise, and neither do you have a clue yet.
Oh, and one more thing: Let me help. I’m as close as www.JerryJenkins.com. I respond more than you may think, so give me a shout in the comment section, and let me prove it.
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