Too much information? LOL It hurts because I've been working out at the gym. I just started last week and I'm probably not as sore as I should be, but there is a twinge here and there, just enough to tell me something is getting exercise. Do I like to work out? NO WAY! But I do it because I want the end product: toned muscles and a strong inside (you know, whatever is supposed to get better because I'm exercising, lol). I read many, many blogs. Especially yours. One thing we all have in common is our frustration with fitting writing into our busy schedules. And sometimes, we just plain don't want to write. I'll confess: the other night I watched two shows on my computer instead of writing. No busy schedule there, just a lazy writer. :-) The thing is, if we want the end product, if we want to finish a manuscript and pursue publication, then we need to force ourselves to write. It's not always fun, passionate or exciting. It's work. And like work, when well-do
When I first started writing, I did a lot of research. One of the things I began to notice was how long it took for authors to get published. The average, if I remember right, was 3-5 years from the point of starting to the point of contract. The numbers boggled me. Could I write for that long? With no guarantee? Of course, I could. It helped to think of the first few years as college. Still, I was overwhelmed by the thought of how long it took so I decided to stop thinking about it and just write, query, etc. About a year ago, I suddenly realized I'd been writing for three years. Somehow the time had flown by. How? Well, the best thing about publishing is that while there's a wait, there's also always things changing. For example, after I finished my first manuscript it took time to write the query. Then time to figure out who to send it to. And then I started a new story as I waited for responses. Between all that was editing and critiquing and contests. Basically, I'
Remember back in the day when you longed for a man, that one special man, who would fill your nights with warmth and smother you with spine-melting kisses? Remember how you'd see all the married couples and think "Where's my love?" And you'd look around and realize you were the only single person in the crowd. The loneliness got to you, drove you into the bookstore where, foggy-eyed and grief-stricken, you stumbled across a book titled (I'm guessing here) BEING HAPPY WHILE SINGLE. You bought it because it seemed like a good idea at the time. And then suddenly it seems all people want to talk about is how good it is to be single! The wives tell you to be relieved that you can stay up until three in the morning with the lights on. Be glad no one pees on your toilet rim. This is us, my dear writer friends. :-) We are the single folks. Yes, there are wonderful, beautiful thrills to being married (published). But there's also hard work, deadlines, interferences
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