When a story or poem is coming along fine, everything is wonderful. When a novel is turning out the way you want it to, and the words are flowing, life is glorious.

But the writer’s life can also be frustrating. Your family, friends, life and sometimes even the Universe conspire to prevent you from your first love, writing. They can become great burdens, or enormous hindrances to The Creative Life.

But lurking underneath these obvious mountains preventing the next publishing sensation from reaching the shelves of our favourite bookshop are three not-so-subtle enemies of our writing life.

Enemy #1: Procrastination:

I think I could write a PhD thesis paper on this topic.

If I ever get around to it, of course.

Procrastination is Enemy #1 of too many writers. Consider these statements:

• “I never have any good ideas for stories.”
• “I’m too tired to write.”
• “I’ll start that novel – on the weekend.”
• “I’m too busy at work but I’ll write when I retire.”
• “My computer has died.”

Don’t let these be your excuses: just do it.

Enemy #2: Lack of Momentum

Momentum – or rather lack of momentum – can kill off a brilliant career in writing before you even get started. And if you do get started, and life gets in the way, lack of momentum can bury the body. It is so hard to get something like a locomotive moving, but once started, it builds its own momentum and before you know it, a runaway train is thundering down the mountains taking all in its path. Starting a train is like starting a story or novel; once it gets moving get out of its way and let it choose its own path. A little bit of writing every day – consistently without fail -  is far better than leaving it for the weekend, or the holidays or retirement.

Enemy #3: Timewasters

Time wasters speak for themselves.

If you are doing something other than writing, no matter how interesting and worthwhile,  there is no way you can reach your writing goals. (You do have writing goals, surely? They can be good motivators and can help keep that momentum going.) Identify your time-wasters and put them in their proper place. Some I grapple with include:

• Some television programmes.
• Checking Facebook and Twitter feeds many times a day.
• Checking my email several times a day.
• Unexpected visitors.
• Unexpected phone calls.
• Computer games.

Time management for writers is essential. Get those time-wasters under control and you will be more productive. (Note to self: take note of what I’ve just written – and apply it!)

Reader responses: in the comments tell me about your Writing Enemies, and how you deal with them. I’d appreciate that.

Good writing.

I am trying to be very patient. If patience really is a virtue, I must be very virtuous indeed. You see, I’m waiting for the results of my Master of Arts Creative Writing thesis paper. Regular readers will know that over the last 18 months I’ve been writing a children’s novel set in Nepal during their recent civil war. I submitted the novel, along with a 10,000 word exegesis essay on the writing of the novel, about mid-December. We were told we might wait 6 to 8 weeks for the results. Two days ago the 9 week mark was reached, so I am trying not to get impatient. Two of my fellow students have heard their results but they submitted the week before me.

This experience has got me thinking about the patience that all writers need. Here are some of my thoughts:

Why writers need patience:

1. Some writers need to patiently wait for writing ideas.
2. Writers need patience when a story or novel is not going along as it should.
3. Patience is needed when life gets in the way of writing schedules, especially if the writer has another job, or a family needing attention.
4. You need patience when waiting to hear if a publisher is going to accept your story or novel.
5. Once an acceptance is offered by a publisher, patience is needed when waiting to see the work in print.
6. When a story or novel has been published, one needs patience waiting for a payment.
7. Reading through reviews of one’s work can severely test a writer’s patience.

I’m sure most writers could add many more examples. What can you do while all the waiting is going on?

Waiting productively

1. While waiting for a idea for a story, read, read, read and do other creative activities to stimulate the mind.
2. While waiting to hear from a publisher, go on with other writing projects to maintain momentum with your writing.
3. While waiting for your work to be published, be sending out more work to publishers. Keep your momentum going.
4. Remember that waiting is inevitable and a part of the writing process. Use the waiting time productively.
5. Don’t give up.

Good writing.

Adelaide International Rose Garden

Happy New Year to all my readers.

I hope the year 2011 brings you great joy, peace and at least some success with your writing. As I explained yesterday, one of my main goals for this year is to be published in a variety of forms: novels, picture books, articles, poems, short stories and whatever else life throws on to my path. I am also determined that this year will also see lots of submissions. If you are not submitting to publishers there is no way you can get published, so I’m determined that this is one area of my writing that needs to change.

Other goals:

Life is more than writing, of course, but over the last few years as I completed my MA Creative Writing degree there were some things which were neglected. As I said yesterday, I’m not really into making New Year’s resolutions. I’ve observed that most people don’t keep them however well intentioned they might be. I prefer setting firm goals with definite, achievable targets. My writing goals include a daily target for the number of hours spent on writing, the number of words written and the number of poems and stories submitted to publishers. I also have goals for other aspects of my life. These include:

1. Reading: writers are readers so this is of utmost importance. This year I plan to read 100 titles (books and magazines; I read most of the magazines I get from cover to cover).
2. Travel 1: I plan to visit my son and his family in Sydney.
3. Travel 2: I plan to visit my daughter while she is teaching overseas.
4. Exercise: I plan to exercise on average five times a week.
5. Weight loss: I plan to lose 12kg this year through exercise and sensible eating.
6. Hobby: I plan to go birding at least once a week, taking photos to share on my birding site.

I have many more smaller specific goals, such as cleaning out the garage, cleaning my office, gardening and so on. These are much more detailed plans and I won’t bore you with them here. I like making lists of things to do – and take pleasure in crossing them off when completed.

It looks like it is going to be another busy year.

I’d better plan to have times of relaxation too.

Good writing.

I prefer to set some firm goals instead, especially in relation to my writing. I find this far more practical and achievable than some nebulous resolution. I shy away from airy-fairy resolutions like “I am going to be a better writer in 2011.” What does that mean? How do I achieve it? How can I measure how successful I’ve been?

My firm goals are often numerically based – so that they can be measured. For example, here are some of my writing goals for this coming year:

1. I plan to average 500 words per day. That’s over 180,000 words for the year – quite a significant figure.
2. I plan to average 3 hours of focussed writing per day. That’s well over 1000 hours for the year – another large number.
3. I plan to write and submit at least 20 short stories to magazines.
4. I plan to write and submit  at least 50 poems to magazines.
5. I plan to edit and submit 5 picture books to publishers.
6. I plan to edit and submit 3 novels to publishers.
7. I plan to write and post 200 articles on each of my 3 blogs.

That’s the plan at the moment. It may have to be adapted with changing circumstances but they give me something to aim at. I keep detailed records on each of the elements of my plans so it’s easy to see how I am going.

A special note about items #5 and #6 – the texts of these books have already been written. They just need editing, some rewriting and then submission. If I was to allow myself to have one resolution for 2011 it could be: “The year 2011 will be my year of getting published.” And knowing the way publishers work with their long lead times, this resolution may have to stretch into 2012 as well!

Further reading on this topic:

• Writing goals for 2009
• Archived articles about goal setting


Good writing – and may you achieve your goals too.

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, South Australlia

“It’s never too late to be what you could have been.” George Eliot

Do you want to be a writer?

I have – ever since I was eight years old. I dabbled in writing stories and poems in high school but then became sidetracked in teaching for 35 years. Teaching was always my second choice. All through my teaching career – a reasonably successful one I might add – I continued to consider myself a writer but could only devote serious time to it during holiday periods.

My writing received quite a boost when I bought my first computer in the late 1980s. All through the 1990s I built up a considerable body of writing and had limited publishing successes. I always considered that I would begin to write full time and very seriously when I retired. In part, I have succeeded in that goal. For the last six years I’ve written thousands of articles on my three blog sites. I’ve also written many short stories, poems and a novel for children.

The point of all this?

I agree with the Eliot quote above. Last month I celebrated my 63rd birthday. I’ve just completed the requirements for my Master of Arts Creative Writing degree. The novel I’ve just written will be submitted to publishers in the new year. My best writing years are still ahead of me. It is never too late.

Five years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of having a university degree. It is never too late.

Five years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of writing so much, but now I’ve written nearly two and a half million words. It is never too late.

Five years ago I could only dream of making money from my writing, but now have a steady income from my writing, especially  blogging. It is never too late.

Five years ago I had very few readers but now hundred of people around the globe read my words every day. It is never too late.

Good writing: it is never too late to become a writer.

Over the last week I have been watching the television coverage of some of the events in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. These games, like the Olympics, are held every four years in a country belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations. The countries involved include Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and many of the other countries that once made up the British Empire. The Commonwealth Games are often referred to as The Friendly Games with a much more relaxed approach to the event. Competition in the field and pool are still fiercely competitive despite this friendliness, and many records, including world records, are broken.

It is pleasing to me that a country like Australia with a relatively small population base does so well in these and other games. During the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 Australian athletes won more gold medals than the next four best countries combined. The trend this time is going the same way again though host nation India is having a big impact on the results.

During any games events there are many outstanding athletic achievements. Several competitors have already gained three or four gold medals with still five days of competition to go. One effort, however, stands out for me. Australian swimmer Ben Austin is not a household name even here in Australia. A few days ago he won a gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle event. His time would have won every gold medal in this event up to the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

So what, you ask?

Ben happens to have only one arm.

Ben swims in the EAD events. EAD stands for Elite Athletes with a Disability. His classification is S8 (above elbow amputee).  His times are not all that far behind swimmers with two arms. What an achievement. And how inspirational is that achievement?

What has this got to do with writing? Too often writers - me included – grumble when things go wrong, a story is not developing as we’d like it, we have a headache, a poem gets rejected by a publisher or some other minor inconvenience and we feel like giving up. It is times like this we need to remember the Bens of this world. He has achieved great things despite having only one arm.  And what about the swimmer in the last Paralympics who won the hearts of so many because he swam the length of the pool with NO arms?

Don’t give up – Good writing.

So fast, my current WIP (work in progress) has come to a standstill. Sigh.

I’ve had some frustrating times lately with family and community responsibilities interrupting my writing time. It happens every now and then and I know I should just accept these times and not get too frustrated with them.

Going nowhere fast

Trouble is, I’ve allowed the recent events to grind my WIP  to a complete halt. It’s going nowhere fast. I haven’t looked at it for nearly a fortnight. One thing I’ve found in recent years is that momentum can often be a very great friend. Once I get on a roll with a particular writing project – be it a novel, short story, article, whatever – the momentum created tends to be self generating. Momentum creates more momentum and I get to the point where it is like an unstoppable train, steaming along seemingly under its own power, carrying me along for one exhilarating ride. When that happens I can be very productive, sometimes writing 3000+ words in a day. About 700 words is  my normal average.

Slow and steady wins the race

Sadly, the opposite is also true. When  I don’t have any momentum because of illness, distractions, family or other responsibilities etc, getting up a head of steam to get moving again takes so much effort. Starting all over almost seems too hard and I can easily give up. The secret is to not stop. It is easier to keep a train moving slowly than to start from a stopped position. It is easier to keep going with a story every day – even if it is only a few words or for twenty minutes or so – than to leave it completely for weeks and then have to start all over again.

I should stop this now and get back to that novel.

It’s not going to finish itself.

Good writing.

I’ve just read one that comes from a writer who lives here in South Australia. His newsletters are always worth reading – every word. In this week’s newsletter he mentions that he checked his submissions spreadsheet only to realise that he was well behind in his goal of 100 rejections. He chastised himself publicly, adding that if his writing was not out there doing the rounds of the publishers, how could he expect to get published. Good point, one I need to take serious note of as it’s been a while since I last submitted anything.

What he meant by his requisite 100 rejections he didn’t explain. Did he mean total rejections, rejections this year or what? It doesn’t really matter. The thrust of many of his newsletters is to encourage his readers to write, write, write and then submit, submit, submit. His theory – and it’s a good one – is that the more you write the better you get at this game. I agree.

The second part of his writing theory is that the more you write, the more material you have to submit to publishers. And the more you submit, the better your chances of being published become. The flip side is: if you submit nothing, that’s exactly how much you’ll get published.

Good writing – and don’t forget to submit something this week!

“I am writing a book. I’ve made a great start: I’ve numbered all the pages.”

Consider the following:

• Countless people say they are going to write a book.
• Only a few ever begin the actual writing.
• If you have started writing a book you are in rare company.
• If you have actually finished writing your book you are in elite company.
• If you have rewritten and edited your book you are almost unique.
• If you have submitted to a publisher a well written, well edited and professionally presented manuscript, you are very special.

Don’t just say you are going to write that book.

Just get on with it.

Good writing.

It is probably also true to say that the vast majority of people who call themselves writers make little or no money from their carefully fashioned words. I make a little from my blogging but nowhere near enough to live on. Like many writers I live with the dream that this may change sometime. The Big Breakthrough. The sudden Best Seller. The rise to Fame and, hopefully, fortune.

Only a very few writers are truly wealthy from their writing. I’ve just read an article called “The 5 wealthiest authors in the world“. There are no surprises in this list, especially with J.K. Rowling at the top. She has made an unbelievable $4.5 billion over the last twelve years.  Some might think she was an overnight success. This is far from the truth; she struggled with her writing for many years before her first book was published. What her story does is illustrate that we can all – no matter what our circumstances – live in the hope that our novel will become the next big seller.

Her story, and that of all the other wealthy writers on the list, illustrates again that there is not short cut to success. All wrote for many years honing their skills. All continue to work hard. Successful writers are persistent writers.

There is another large group of writers who do it just for the joy of putting words together. For them money is not the objective. They are just content to write for the sheer joy of using words. More power to them I say.

Reference: “The 5 wealthiest authors in the world” (click here to read it).