Motivate Your Writer Within

"You don't have to get it right you just have to get it going." Mike Litman

I'm a huge fan of this quote, and believe new or aspiring (and even experienced) writers can benefit by repeating it as often as needed. Wherever you are on your path as a writer, there's a temptation to believe you have to write "it" right, right from the start or you can't start; or if you start without doing it right, you're not writing right. Yikes.

Take a deep breath, release it, and hear this loud and clear: This is not realistic thinking.

Know that if your passion to be a writer is in place

* Creativity can be nurtured. If you look at any writer with a long list of books in print, read their last one then read their first one and you'll see how their writing evolved over time.

* You can either develop your writing skills or find an editor/rewriter who helps you create the book you want to put your name on.

* If you believe writing doesn't fit into your schedule, look at your schedule. If there's anything you ever wanted to get done, you probably found a way to do it. Just as the joke about eating an elephant gets done one bite as a time (Note: I am not in favor of doing any harm to elephants), the way anything gets written is one word at a time.

Don't hesitate to read and analyze something similar to what you intend to write or have started to write. You can turn to resource books or online, no-cost e-newsletters for writers. It's not necessary to swamp yourself with information, but you can spend some time glancing at books and articles to carefully select several that will provide more of what you need to know right now. There's a wealth of information and services all around you to nurture and motivate you to live the writer's life you desire and choose.

Accept that once you complete the writing stage, you have to enter the edit and rewrite stage. One of the worst things you can ever do is either publish or submit what you've written in its first draft form. Maybe Rex Stout was able to submit manuscripts to his publisher that were ready to go with no further editing, but I'd be willing to bet cash that they didn't flow out of his fingertips in final, publish-ready form.

If you've been holding off on starting to write or feel blocked, keep the quote at the top handy and repeat it as many times as you need to. Then kick yourself into gear. Fall in love with the process of being a writer, not just the image or the response you get when you tell people you're writing a book. Eventually, they're going to want to see a result. So do you.

Happy Writing!