picjumbo
Happy Monday, writer ladies and gents. Are you looking to take your writing hobby to the next level? Are you ready to start your writing career? Today, I'm going to help you boost your writing game and help you embrace your new career, in less than fifteen minutes!
First of all, we should define writing career. Maybe you imagine James Patterson or Stephen King, the kind of writer who can afford to stay home and make a permanent income from their books. Maybe you imagine the write-by-night artist, the one who balances a day job with novel-writing.
Here's a definition I'd like to use: a writing career begins the moment you decide to take yourself seriously as a professional writer. A writing career is not defined by the quantity of books you've written, the amount of money you make or the number of readers you've gained.
Excited, yet? Let's start your writing career in less than fifteen minutes...
Define Your Goals + Embrace Your Identity
estimated time: 5 minutes
To start off, I want you to imagine yourself as a writer. You are not an aspiring writer or a future novelist. You are a writer. There's something to be said about owning your title, and with that ownership comes a sense of pride and confidence. You can read more about this over here.
Once you've got that down, we need to define your goals. At this step, I want you to focus on your broad, long term goals. Ask yourself the following three questions and write down your responses:
What is my definition of literary success?
What am I willing to sacrifice to make more time for writing?
What am I most excited about my new writing career?
Now that you've defined your own vision for your writing career, we can begin the writing part of this process.
Brainstorm Your Next Project
estimated time: 7 minutes
If you're ready to start your writing career, then you are ready to start your first project. Maybe you're the kind of writer who has started and stopped novel after novel. Maybe you're the kind of writer who is scared to make the big leap into novel-writing. Maybe you're just plain stuck. Are you looking to start a novel? Be sure to check out this post next.
More than likely, you're stuck in one of two camps. Camp one: You have one good idea that you can't make work. Camp two: You have too many ideas that you can't choose. First, let's take a few minutes to pick your path.
CAMP ONE
What do you like about your project idea?
What's keeping you from making it work?
Would you rather revive or abandon your project?
CAMP TWO
List your ideas down in bulleted form.
Circle the top three ideas that excite you the most.
Of the top three, which idea do you feel is the best suited for your style + time?
Remember, this project is not written in stone. Writing is a fluid art, and you never know where it may lead you.
Get Writing, My Friend
estimated time: 2 1/2 minutes (we said less than 15, remember?)
For this last step, I'm going to give you a couple of options:
Start writing, right now. If you're feeling up to it, spend the next 2 1/2 minutes writing as fast as you can. I bet you can't stop yourself once you've started.
Build a writing schedule. Maybe you need organization to get your best work done. If that's the case, read this post on five ways to schedule your writing time.
And there you have it! Three steps to start your writing career in less than fifteen minutes. For more exclusive writing tips, be sure to join the mailing list. Sign up in the sidebar.
Discussion Time: Where are you in your writing career? How can you use these tools to reach your goals?
