Welcome to the end of the August Blog post Challenge. Yes, I know it’s not August anymore, but this is the week that August ended, so I figure that gets me a little bit of wiggle room.
This is one of those, peculiar things that I think all newer writers need to hear, before they figure it out for themselves.
All roads lead to writing.
What do I mean by that? I mean that, if you’re a writer – at any point in your career – and you’re stuck on what you “Should” be doing next…here is a thought. We’ll see how well it hold up.
If you want to be a writer, but you don’t know where to begin?
Write.
You’ve finished a short story (Congrats! Good on you!), and you’re waiting for beta readers to get back to you?
Write.
You’ve finished a Novel (Again, huge Congrats!)?
Put it away for 4-6 weeks and Write something else.
You got your first rejection (Congrats! I know this is an odd thing to say, but you’d be amazed at the number of folk that finish a story and never submit it. You, you’re moving forward)?
(Note: I try not to let 24 hours pass before sending it out somewhere else.)
Write.
You got your 59th rejection?
Keep submitting (see the note above about letting more than 24 hours pass. Note – if you’re receiving multiple, personalized rejections all pointing to a specific thing…address that thing before resubmitting).
Write.
I think you get the picture.
This is not one of those “You must write 2000 words every day, or you’re not a “Real” writer” posts. That kind of thinking is crap. Do what you can do, for as long as you can do it, and nobody can do more than that.
Here is what I want you to take away from this:
There is no finish line. It’s never “The End.”*
Careers are started with individual works. They are made up of multiple books, or trilogies, or series.
This is a good thing, because there will always be that next story.
Why wait.
Write.
Good Luck!
Time: 7:37 Pm-ish
Music: Fit for Rivals – Novocain
* This is, of course, assuming that you’re not planning on writing only one thing and then stopping. Some folk have done that. They have a book in them and, once it’s gone, they are content to let that be that.