Business of Writing

This information is from some notes I took while attending a panel, during a previous year of my favorite symposium, Life the Universe and Everything. Those listed on the panel were: Elana Johnson, Rebecca Shelley and Emily Sorsen.

– Your goals need to include your writing goals.
– Instead of having the goal that you want to be a published writer maybe have instead that you have all your finished manuscripts submitted.
– Goals need to be over areas you can control such as daily writing patterns. Such as when you get a reject of one of the five agents you’ve submitted to immediately send out a query to an new agent to keep the level to five.
– Build a structure to accomplish your goal. If you miss a goal, review your structure to see what areas needs to be revised. An example was given of someone being used to using one laundry basked but then had to be told that it is okay to have more than one if the need arises.
– Permit some flexibility on your goals.
– Notice how you are spending your time.
– Reward yourself when you accomplish a goal. Maybe like reading a certain book you couldn’t read until you finished a task.
– Goals give you a direction to work toward and show the results of an accomplished task.
– Take advantage of external structure that you can’t control such as when you drop kids to school or have to work. You might be able to write during a break or lunch break.
– Understand your biorhythms. Find out if you are a morning person or night person. What times of the day are you the most creative or can concentrate on writing. Sometimes when a goal is broken it will point out a biorhythm. Test writing at different points of the day to see when you are the most successful in writing like you planned.
– Carve out time(s) out of your day to accomplish your goals.
– Ways to help goals succeed by supporting things that balance you. 1. Connect with source of inspiration. (maybe God) 2. Connect to people who are important to you. family, friends. 3. Connect to physical body. 4. Work toward a goal that matters to you specifically. 5. Spend time with something that can benefit you.
– See writing as a gift from God. Many may start their writing sessions with prayer and ask God to help you in your writing. Maybe pray before each writing session. Some seet hat God has helped them in their writing.
– Don’t wait until you have time to write, create time to write.
– See what you see is important in your life and get rid of things that are not. For many that may be TV or spider solitaire.
– As a writer you need to make some sacrifices.
– If you’re spending at least 20 minutes on writing each day than writing is nor important to you.
– many writes write at the very beginning or end of the day and get up early or stay up late when kids are in bed.
– When you realize the reason why you write it is no longer a challenge.
– You need to give up doing things for other that they can do for themselves such as having Kids doing chores and doing their homework.
– many writers will not write on the Sabbath, selecting Sunday as a day of rest from writing as well as other labors.