IWSG: Swimming or Sinking?
It's another Insecure Writer's Support Group!!
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Now...here's my thoughts on this October ISWSG day...
Back in the day, I had a real job. The kind where a secretary took my calls when I said I was busy, and wrote messages on little pink slips of paper (yes, it was a loooonnnngggg time ago!), and I would return them at my leisure.
If I was at work...I had absolutely no guilt in not answering that phone. Not a single second thought in saying, "Busy. I'll have to do that later."
But, as a writer...some days, I'm like those fish in the bowl with no better daily plan than swimming in circles. I expect results, but all I get is frustration.
Let's be honest...I know what I need to do. I know what separates the published from the unpublished, the sellers from the non-sellers...and it's not always talent (cause fishy buddies, there's lots of that in the literary tank!)...what differs is the dedication, the determination of some to GET. THE. JOB. DONE.
I think we all know it. How many of us wonder when the Ninja Master sleeps? Yes, he may have a clone, but I'm betting he has a plan. And a job. A job he takes seriously.
So, why is it so few of us do the same? Why aren't we setting working hours? Why don't we have the kahoonas (by which I mean gonads) big enough to start saying NO to some things so we can get our work done?
How many writers quit after trying for years, but maybe only spent months actually working?
I've seen it more than once...talented people who went belly up in the bowl because they just got tired of swimming in circles.
Don't swim in circles.
You want to succeed at this? It's a job...maybe even your second...or third job. So, to squeeze what you're going to have to do into a busy life, you're going to have to *gasp* start saying no to some things. And you're going to have to look at all things writer-ish as "work" and stop feeling guilty...you have a job to get done.
Here's just a few things that you should be doing GUILT FREE and why:
The study of the craft? educational
Blogging...facebooking...tweeting? platform building
Reading? also educational
Conferences, seminars, webinars, etc? business trips
Staring at a computer screen, some days only spitting out 100 words? it's reality & what you live for
Distraction is a drug...Just say no!
