Stop making excuses about not having enough time to write because you do have the time you just have to want to make the time. Every single writer has to do this. No one really has the time, we are all incredibly busy, we have responsibilities, jobs, family, and so on and the reality is something’s got to give if you are being serious about writing. You make the time. You get up early before work to write, you stay up late, you don’t watch the TV show you want to watch, you don’t make plans with your friends every weekend, you make the time to write.
Now of course there are always going to be times when you just don’t have the emotional bandwidth or you need to exercise self-care but I’m not talking about those times. I’m talking about all of you out there who are making excuses for why you can’t write because oh you just don’t have time. I guarantee you that 99% of the time something can be thrown out of your life schedule so you can make time for writing. All of us have to do it so buck up buttercup and make the time.
There are people out there who are just naturally more talented at writing, there are people out there who do have more time than you do, there are people out there who have this ideal set of traits that makes them a natural at writing. It can be hard to write but decide why you want to write and that will help you not only find the time but write as well.
Just because someone else is more talented than you are or writing comes more easily to them doesn’t mean you can’t stay with your plan to write. You can get just as far as they do or even surpass them by putting in the work. Putting in the time does make a difference. The first piece of writing that you put out into the world as your professional writing debut matters. People do consider first impressions so the first creative work that is associated with your name can often stick with you and follow you.
If you are impatient and you are rushing and you just want to hit publish on something but you are not taking care with what that thing is you might have to make some edits to your work. This industry does reward a little bit of patience and strategy when it comes to your creative career. You can also do everything right and your debut still doesn’t go the way you want it to and you just have to kind of grin and bear it, acknowledge it, strategize to move forward, and move on.
You just have to do your best and work around it.
Great books fail all the time it’s not necessarily about quality or how good you are, sometimes you’re just unlucky, things don’t go your way, you either never get your shot on that amazing book that you wrote, or you publish it yourself and no one reads it. Or you can get an amazing huge book deal and then no one cares or you’re badly reviewed or you just fall into a black hole. It happens all the time and you just have to be resilient and pick yourself back up and move forward or you let Publishing swallow you whole.
There are those who have a ton of side projects, who have a ton of creative projects that are kind of related to writing but are not actually writing. They are kind of dancing around writing. If you do all of these side things in lieu of seriously writing, of writing books, of completing projects, and getting out there and actually being a writer that you’re essentially spinning your wheels and wasting your time. There always has to be balance between all the side stuff that you do and actually writing.
Many people are more in love with the idea of being a writer than actually being a writer. It is easy to talk about writing, to style yourself as a writer, to be really great at Twitter or Instagram or YouTube or what have you or starting other businesses. You can do those things if you were doing them and actually writing and actually pushing forward in your writing career. If you are just spinning your wheels because you like the idea of being a writer, you like styling yourself as one but you are never actually writing and moving forward in your writing career you need to look at your motive and desire to be a writer. Some people just like to play at being a writer. You are not a writer if you are not actually writing.
Actually do the work, make the time, sit down, write the books, deal with the fact that publishing can be super unfair, and just do the work. Even when you do the work, it is not always necessarily going to work out the way you want. Not everyone is going to love everything you write. Nothing is universally loved and inevitably someone is going hate what you wrote and you will have to learn to deal with that. You are going to have to learn to deal with rejection, with criticism, or just understand that people love having opinions. Their opinion of you doesn’t matter so do not take it personally.
Once you put something out into the world, it no longer really belongs to you. People can say anything they want about you. Develop a thicker skin, toughen up, brush stuff off, and let it roll right off your back. If you let any negative review or criticism destroy you, you are not going make it. Be more resilient than that.
Just because you have got a great idea doesn’t mean you should write about it. Sometimes there are simply projects and ideas that are so far outside of our lane or just really badly timed that you shouldn’t do it. Carefully consider your ideas, what they are, and why you want to write them. The soul-searching of why you want to write certain ideas, why you feel that you are the person to bring this idea to the market, that process is really valuable and you may find at the end of it you know what you can write. Do research on your topic and then decide if it is the right time to write about your topic.
Sometimes no matter how sensitively you approach something it is just not going work. If you are the wrong person to write the idea you may get a lot of flack and a lot of blow back. Really consider what ideas you work on and why you want to write them. While you might be the right writer to write something, sometimes the answer is to take a step back and let go.
If you get the feeling you know that’s a great idea, but I just don’t think I’m the right writer to write it and then don’t.
Having a great voice in writing matters a lot. It can be make-or-break for a career. You can’t teach voice. You really can’t learn voice. You know it when you read it and you do too as a reader when you pick up a book. If you were reading it and you get this sense that no other author could write like this, no other author does write like this, or you read a line and go oh that was written so well. If you are reading something and just the mood, tone and atmosphere and a specificity drips off the page that is voice.
If you love writing and you love stories, you don’t just like the idea of being a writer, you’re actually a writer who writes things, you don’t let yourself get distracted by side businesses and projects, and you are able to pick yourself up and just forge forward and deal with all of the things others are saying about your writing then you are going to make it. Just enjoy every aspect of your writing career.