All too often, novice writers tell themselves, “I should be doing something else other than writing.” Maybe it’s folding laundry, maybe it’s working on the project for your employers, maybe it’s just relaxing.

Such thinking isn’t very helpful to your writing. You either go do that other task (and there always are a thousand tasks one could do) or you spend your writing time not thinking about your book but that other thing you instead might be doing.

You never can be a successful writer, though, if you don’t write. And why would you want to defer your dream?

A satisfying life demands that you possess purpose and passion. To be an author is your purpose. Writing is your passion.

Pursuing any passion and achieving any goal requires effort. If your passion is running and your purpose is to complete a marathon, each day you must practice to handle an increasing number of miles. You don’t just run a marathon the first time out.

So it is with writing. You don’t write the Great American Novel or the next bestselling self-help book with a single draft. Instead, you must learn the craft of writing and revise your works. Each time you write, you incrementally become better and close on the finish line.

Folding the laundry, completing another project at work, or watching television for the next hour doesn’t build your writing muscles. It only leaves them flabby.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

!