Thursday, December 03, 2009

And This is the Secret ...

You have to treat this as the single most important part of your life. You do not need anything as fancy as inspiration, just this steady habit of writing regularly even when you're sick or sad or dull. Nothing must stop you, not even your beloved children. If you have kids you do what Toni Morrison did—write in the hours before they wake. If you wish to be a like the champion who swims for four hours every day of the year, you will need extraordinary will. You either have this or you don't, but you won't know unless you try.
Biggest congratulations to all those who finished this year's Nanowrimo with 50K words under their belt. Even if those novels never see light of day, they are preparation for the one that will.

Those who signed up for the biggest of all writing competitions have been receiving regular pep talks from famous authors. The final one was this one from Peter Carey which arrived in everyone's inboxes last night. If you want to be a published author, all the advice you need to suceed is here.

1 comment:

Oxymoron said...

I find that if I have a few ideas in my head, I have to put some of them down on paper before I can generate any new ones. Writing is like taking a journey. Each destination prepares me for the next.