At some stage in your writing career, you will step over the line from being a novice and will start thinking like a serious writer. You’ll start dreaming about seeing your book on a shelf with your name in gold lettering and you’ll start researching the markets that might be interested in your work.

Thing is, to be a serious writer, you have to write. You have to get the manuscript finished and get it out there. Then you have to get another manuscript finished and get that one out there too, and so on.

Bryce Courtney claims that all writers need to find a good “bum-glue”. This means that talking about it isn’t good enough and making excuses isn’t good enough. You have to do it. You have to sit yourself in front of your computer and force yourself to write.

Think about it this way. If you can’t write now, when there is no pressure, how will you go when there is? Will you be able to meet the editing deadlines? If not, perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong hobby because that’s all it will be if you can’t produce the goods.

Filed under: Writing Habits, Writing: